Looking Into the Past
by KasualKoopa
Summary: OC Based Story. Neff has a condition which allows her to see important parts of her past; some of which she wasn't there for. What happens when she learns some of the harsh things about her family and friends? Will it drive her insane, or will she be happy about it?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The First Day at Elmore Jr. High! Neff's New Friends and Problems!**

* * *

You know how new people are always shy or not willing to talk to anyone when they're in a place they've never been before? Well, that's pretty much me right now. Shy, and avoiding every social opportunity I get. Currently in the last grade of middle school, and coming here in the middle of April as well, of course I'd be that way!

Anyways, you're probably wondering, _who's the person talking anyways? _Well, to answer that, my name's Neff. Neff Mau5. My family all has a number in at least one of their names. It's tradition. It's ALSO tradition for girls under 18 in our family to not cut their hair (on their head, sheesh, get your head outta the gutter!), since they want it to grow beautiful, but you didn't really need to know that, unless you wanted to imagine my hair as super short, which it's not. You know how long it takes me to wash this light brown mop sometimes, and always comb my side bang right so no hair from the back gets in the way? Don't get me wrong it doesn't cover up my (right) eye, I can still see!

Ugh, enough about my hair. I'm usually seen wearing a dark blue t-shirt that goes down just over my bellybutton that reads, 'Nuff Said', and regular jeans. Except right now they're shorts, since it's 85 degrees out (Fahrenheit, if you thought it was Celsius). My species? Ha, it's in my last name! Mau5. Ever heard of Deadmau5? Well, he's my dad. Red skin, huge round ears, and white eyes. We may sound creepy to some people, but that's just how we are. And no, it's not weird to have the name of your species of your last name. It's just as normal for someone in The Sims to have the last name 'Sims'. Besides that, we have chords as tails. They're like headphone jacks, and they vary in lengths. Mine extends about 2 feet, almost half my height. Apparently when I was born, I was extremely tiny, and my mom thought I was deformed. But no, the doctor just said I had a growth problem, and wouldn't reach past 5 feet tall in my lifetime. I'm 4'10" right now, so being stuck in halls with tons of people around me is a real problem.

Okay, I swear, I'll stop talking about my appearance for now. Right now I'm in the Principle's office, since he's giving me my schedule and assigning me a locker. It's really humid in here since all the blinds are closed and there's no fan or anything on. Besides that, the Principle's name is 'Principle Brown', judging by his little sign thing he has on his desk. The chairs in here are really comfy too. Principle Brown is going through his laptop to print me out a schedule. He looked kind of strict, which scared me a little.

A few moments later, he shut his laptop and got out a notepad. He scribbled something down on it, ripped the paper off, and handed it to me.

"Here, it's your locker number and the combination. Before you find it, go to the secretary's office right outside here and ask her for your schedule. I already printed it out," he explained. I nodded, shoved the note in my pocket, and hopped off the chair, hauling my messenger bag on my shoulder. As I was heading out of his door, he included, "Don't do anything stupid either. We have enough problems as it is." SOMEONE obviously pissed in his cereal this morning.

I found the secretary's office right across the hall once I closed the door behind me, and went into it. She was a... cupcake? Well, an old saggy one anyways. She was busy typing away on her laptop. There was a fan on full blast blowing right on her, and all the windows were open. The sounds of the copy machine behind her (I could hear where it was) were going nonstop, so this place must be really busy at the moment. The desk she was sitting at was so high up that she could probably only see my ears. She seemed REALLY into her typing. I saw a bell right in front of her computer, and reached up and tapped it. Well, I almost tapped it. I was stopped by a hand. I stood on my tip toes and saw her glaring at me.

"Whaddya want, kid?" she asked, annoyed.

"Principle Brown told me I had to get my schedule here," I explained. She sighed and got up. A few moments later, she handed me the schedule.

"Here. Don't bother me for anything else now," she said, and went back to her typing. Note to self; try not to talk to her ever again.

I went back out and shut the door behind me. I took the note back out of my pocket and looked at it.

_Locker 237, second floor, bottom set of lockers. I noticed you might have trouble getting the top one open. 1-32-14_

Well, that was thoughtful of him. Now I had to find a set of stai- found them. Right down the hall. I went over there. I noticed the sounds of teachers lecturing their students, and when I passed a door labeled 'Mr. Small's Office', I heard peaceful music, like the guy was doing yoga or meditating or something. He must be the counselor.

I was also passing a janitor who had headphones on and was jamming out to ABCD, just like his shirt had the logo on it. I wasn't a fan of rock or metal or anything like that, but whatever he liked was his opinion. He waved hi to me once he saw me. I smiled and waved back.

One thing I was good at was understanding people's opinions. Actually, just understanding in general. While most people would get mad over their food being late at a crowded restaurant, I'd understand because they had so much food to make. Sure I'm impatient sometimes, but I understand I'm not going to be the one to get what I want right away.

I eventually made it to the staircase and used the rail on the side to help me up, since my bag was so heavy. I don't understand why my dad bought me so many things when we have only 2 months of school left. Several notebooks, countless pencils, and a huge lunch I made (that part I wasn't mad about, but it was still heavy).

I made it to the landing on the stairs (they were half landing stairs. Number up ahead: they have a landing that turns the stairs 180 degrees. Many other schools and places have them), and all of a sudden, I hear screaming and laughing.

"HAHAHA! OH MAN, THAT WAS CLASSIC!"

"YOU BET IT WAS!"

I was also hearing footsteps coming closer to the stairs. I looked towards the rest of the stairs and saw two guys running like their lives depended on it. One was a banana (how odd...), and the other one was a rainbow puffball with a headband (also odd). They made it to the stairs, but then one of them tripped and started tumbling down.

He landed right on me.

"OOF!"

The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, my head and stomach hurting. I must've banged my head really hard. The guy got up and looked at me with wide eyes.

"Dude, are you okay?!" he asked.

I got up slowly. Thank god my bag didn't spill everything.

"I guess. My stomach hurts a little, but it'll go away," I explained.

"Oh. Well, who are you? I haven't seen you around here before."

His banana friend was now next to him, looking at me with a confused look. "Yeah, who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Neff. New here, so that's why."

"I'm Tobias," the rainbow guy introduced himself. He pointed to the banana, "and that's Banana Joe. We just call him Joe for short though."

"Any reason why you guys were running like your lives depended on it?" I asked them. They both cracked a smirk.

"We just pulled the hugest prank on our teacher Miss Simian, so we were running away from her," Joe explained.

* * *

_Joe was standing on top of the door, positioning a bucket of paint on top of the cracked open door. He jumped back down and Tobias caught him easily with one hand._

_"Dude, your idea was awesome! She'll be so pissed!" Joe said, holding back his laugh. Tobias giggled quietly._

_"I know! This'll get her back for giving us all that homework!" Tobias agreed. Every kid in the class was holding back their laughs as well. Tobias and Joe hurried back to their seats, acting as if nothing happened. Moments later, the door opened._

_SPLASH!_

_There Miss Simian was, covered in white paint from head to toe. Her expression went from shocked to infuriated._

_"WHO DID THIS?!" she screeched. Pretty soon, the entire class burst out laughing. Miss Simian growled loudly and snatched up the paint can. It read, 'Wilson Paint Company'. Without hesitation, she glared at Tobias and Banana Joe, knowing he had something to do with it._

_"TOBIAS AND BANANA JOE!" she screeched. She went ape mode and pounded her chest like an ape. Then she charged towards them. Tobias and Joe screamed and ran out of the way just in time. They both ran out of the room quickly, laughing._

* * *

Tobias and Joe were chuckling to themselves, probably about that prank they just pulled. All of a sudden, I heard a loud screech, "TOBIAS AND JOE!"

Tobias and Joe yelped and turned around. On top of the staircase was an ape covered from head to toe in white paint! She made the most scary ape sound I've ever heard, and started pounding her chest with her fists. I looked away because her um... breasts... were flailing around. _Jesus, doesn't this woman wear a bra or something?! _I thought to myself.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when she screeched loudly. The next thing I knew, Tobias grabbed my wrist and yanked me out of the way. The ape landed right where I was standing, and she was giving us a menacing glare.

"C'mon, we gotta go NOW!" Tobias yelled, before I was yanked again. He had Joe on his shoulder (probably picked him up before he yanked me out of the way), and we both started to run on instinct. The ape screeched for the third time and ran after us. She was fast too!

"WHY AM I RUNNING WITH YOU?!" I asked him. "I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!"

"SHE GOES APESHIT ON EVERYONE WHEN SHE'S LIKE THIS!" Joe answered. I suddenly remembered my tail, and what would happen if it was disconnected, so I wrapped it around my free hand. To explain, the second it would come out, my eyes would turn from white to black, and I'd be 'dead mau5' until it was plugged back in again. Scientists say it's because our tail acts as a secondary power source. I don't know why it does though.

We almost made it to the end of a hall where the entrance doors were, so Tobias quickly pulled me into a different direction, and we ended up in a janitor's closet right next to the secretary's office. The door closed behind us. I heard a yell, and then a crashing sound.

It was dark and cramped in here. Well, it wasn't that dark, the light from outside coming in through the glass window on the door was the only light source. I was squished sitting between the wall and what felt like a mop bucket. It could've been something else though. I put my legs straight out and set my bag on my lap.

I heard Tobias and Joe giggling slightly. "Oh man, that was awesome," Joe whispered.

"What?!" I whispered back in frustration, "That wasn't awesome! I could've gotten attacked by an ape covered in paint!"

Tobias laughed out loud, but slapped a hand over his mouth. "That was the funny part! She was covered in paint!" he said through his hand, quietly. I sighed. _Not even half an hour in this school and I'm in a janitor's closet hiding from a sadistic ape!_

Tobias shushed Joe once he heard voices outside. We listened closely.

"Miss Simian! What on Earth are you doing covered in... paint?" It was Principle Brown.

"What happened to you?!" Another voice said. It sounded really concerned. There was the sound of panting.

"Well... I was... chasing Tobias and Joe and... some other person..." it sounded like the ape. Her name was Miss Simian.

"What did they do this time?" Principle Brown said, annoyed. I stood up silently and looked out the glass window. Miss Simian was sitting on the floor, and Principle Brown and a cloud guy were standing in front of her. She was giving Principle Brown a 'really?' look.

"OH! Oh the paint... But who was the other person?"

Miss Simian got up slowly. "I don't know she just ended up with them. She had big ears and creepy white eyes." I frowned at her comment.

"She has her first three classes with you. So she had nothing to do with it?"

"Not uh," Miss Simian said, shaking her head. I could tell she was mad. What made ME mad was that I was stuck in a class with her. She was crazy!

"Let's look for them then. I'll call them on the intercom, and see if at least one of them will have the guts to show up," Brown said, before walking into his office.

_"Tobias Wilson, Banana Joe, and Neff Mau5 to my office right now. Tobias Wilson, Banana Joe, and Neff Mau5 to my office," _the intercom said. I gulped and sat back down, debating if I should go or not.

Tobias grabbed my arm and I looked at him. "Dude, whatever you do, if you go out there, DO NOT tell him where we are! Please!" he begged. I thought, _Should I help them out? If so, how would I get out of here without being spotted? I want to have friends, but-_

All of a sudden, the door opened, and the janitor with the ABCD shirt on looked down at us. He took one headphone out of his ear.

"What are you guys do-"

I got up and covered his mouth. "Please, just don't say anything," I begged. He nodded slowly. I nodded back and uncovered his mouth.

He whispered, "So what are you doing here? What happened?"

"Ask them," I whispered, pointing to Tobias and Joe.

"We pissed Simian off with some paint and now she, Brown, and Small are after us," Joe explained. Small? As in the counselor? So that's who he was.

"Well, how are you guys gonna get out of this situation? I mean you can't stay in here forever," the janitor pointed out.

"We were hoping you would help," Tobias whispered nervously.

The janitor thought for a minute, and then he looked around the janitor's closet. "Well, I have a crate in here that you guys could hide in," he explained, "I could put it on my cart here." He showed us the cart he had. It had a bunch of mops and cleaning bottles on it, plus a bucket.

Tobias nodded quickly. "Yeah, that'd work, but then what would we do?"

"You guys would hide on it until they all calm down. Especially Simian. Then you'd turn yourselves in I guess."

"Well," Joe started, "if Simian calms down, she'll give us less of a punishment for it."

"Right," Tobias added.

"Well, you guys can do that. I'm gonna go to the office, since I did nothing wrong," I said, before looking behind the janitor. There were no teachers there, and Brown was doing something on his computer, so he wouldn't see me sneak out. I did so, and then waved bye to them, before opening Brown's door all the way, since is was cracked open. I walked in and closed the door behind me.

"Uh... hi," I said nervously, slipping into the chair.

"Oh, there you are. Now then, can you tell me where Tobias and Joe are?" Principle Brown asked, shutting his laptop and folding his hands on his desk. He was looking straight at me, which made me a little nervous.

"I don't know exactly where they are," I lied, "but they ran off somewhere, that's all I know."

Principle Brown sighed. "Very well then. Just go to your locker and then class. Miss Simian should be there shortly."

I nodded and hopped off the chair, then opened the door again. The janitor was gone, which meant I wasn't going to see Tobias and Joe for a while. They were in my first three classes, as Brown pointed out.

I headed back up the way I came, and found my locker. I took out the note paper, and put in the combination. The locker popped open. I looked back in my schedule to see what I needed.

_1st Period - English - Simian - 208_

_2nd Period - Math - Simian - 208_

_3rd Period - Gym - Simian - Gym_

_4th Period - Lunch/Recess - Cafeteria_

_5th Period - Science - Small - 104_

_6th Period - Social Studies - Derpson - 82_

_7th Period - Art - Derpson - 101_

_8th Period - Psychology Session - Small - Counselor's Office_

I was surprised they had recess here! But... why was there a psychology session? There wasn't anything wrong with me. Maybe it was for everyone, just so they'd get their heads straight.

I got out two random notebooks and a pencil. I put the rest of my stuff in the locker and shut it. _Now just to find Simian's room._

Suddenly, the bell rang, and students poured out of classes. Some just to talk and others to go to their next class. It would be a lot harder to find Simian's class with all these people in the way. Me being extremely short made it even worse.

Out of the crowd of people, I noticed a light blue cat and an orange fish playing with a paddle ball, hitting each other in the face as they took turns. That made me laugh a little. I cut through the crowd to ask them where Simian's room was.

Once I got to them, I asked, "Hey, do you guys know where Miss Simian's room is?"

They stopped playing and looked at me in surprise. "Why do you wanna know where her room is? She's horrible!" the cat said.

The fish nodded quickly and said, "Uh huh. She gives us F's all the time! And she accused us of lying when we said our dad ate our homework!"

I gave them a confused look. "Your... your dad ate your homework?" I asked, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Yeah, I know you think it's funny, but apparently he thought it would gain him knowledge. But anyways, I'm Gumball," the cat said. Then he pointed to his brother. "And that's Darwin. Are you new here?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I haven't even been here for an hour now and I've been chased by Miss Simian herself.."

"Really? For what?!" Darwin asked, surprised.

"Well, I wasn't the only one," I explained, "I was with Tobias and Joe too. The lady was covered in white paint and was going nuts!"

"Oh, that was hilarious! You should've seen it!" Gumball said, smirking. He and Darwin shared some giggles.

"I think we should get to class now. It starts in like 30 seconds," Gumball explained.

"You have the next class with her?"

"First 3 actually," Darwin answered.

"I do too," I said, before we all agreed to head to class. I noticed dry paint splattered on the floor as we walked in.

"There's a seat in the back that nobody ever sits in," Gumball explained, pointing to it. It was in the last row, middle seat. I just hoped it wasn't by the mean kids, since that's where they usually sat in every class.

A few seconds after I sat down, a load of kids came in the room. They all sat down in their seats, and a girl with a... a chin(?) for a body sat down next to me. She was eating something, and her saliva was flying everywhere. I scooted my desk away from her.

"Hi, I'm Sussie," she said, not hesitating to even swallow what she was eating. I waved slowly, giving her a creeped out look. She sounded like a guy. "What's your name?" she asked.

"I'm uh... Neff," I replied, still creeped out. Fortunately, the bell just rang, and everyone immediately shut up. In walked Miss Simian, but this time she was paint free.

"Alright class, turn your textbook pages to page 127," she started. She didn't even bother to say hi at least. Well, I couldn't blame her. She was probably still pissed.

Then I realized I didn't have a textbook. I raised my hand and said, "Uh, excuse me? I don't have a textbo-"

I was cut off when a textbook flew at me like a kunai. I yelped and ducked right before it hit me. It literally dug into the chalkboard behind me, just a few feet away, cracking a few pieces of it. I looked at it in disbelief.

"There! Now don't ask for anything more! Otherwise it's detention!" Miss Simian screeched, and started explaining about algebra. This woman had MAJOR anger problems! I said nothing and got out of my seat to retrieve the textbook. Now was when I had a problem. The textbook was too high up!

I jumped up and gripped it as best as I could. Then, I tried pulling down but the textbook wouldn't budge. I tried this several more times, but it still didn't work. So then, I climbed on top of it and jumped on it, earning a few stares from the class.

"Come on," I growled, "just get out of the stupid chalkboard!"

"Do you need help?" a voice whispered. I looked over to see a ghost with really nice hair floating in front of me.

"Uh... yeah, actually," I said, before hopping off the textbook and onto the floor. The ghost took no hesitation in ripping the textbook out of the chalkboard and handing it to me.

"Thanks," I said, before she nodded and we both sat back down.

_Well that was nice of her, _I thought. I opened my textbook to page 127 and looked at what we were learning about. It was simple algebraic equations. Not too hard, but not easy. Well, for me at least. Everyone else were looking at their books like this was in a different language.

I kind of slacked off 20 minutes later, and started daydreaming. Mostly about my past in Mau5ville (I know, it's kind of weird, but a lot of other mau5 families live there), and why we moved here.

* * *

_My past was okay, despite the fact that I couldn't stand up for myself. I usually kept my rude thoughts to myself, and I still do. I was a naturally quiet person. I never wanted to talk to people that much, except when I had to. People would call me weird for being so quiet, but I didn't worry about it._

_Pretty soon, my parents had enough with me not talking. When I was around 10, they took me to the doctor to see if there was something wrong with my vocal chords, but he said I was just fine. My dad didn't budge, and he took me to another doctor. He was specialized in working with the brain. He gave me x-rays and a bunch of other stuff, but still said there was nothing wrong with me._

_My dad STILL didn't budge, and took me to a psychotherapist to see if it was a mental problem. He made me answer basic questions, which I answered with one or two word answers. Some of the questions were, 'Do you like being around other people?' or 'Do people not accept you?' I answered both of them with no. Then, he had diagnosed me with social anxiety, but they weren't fully sure since I was fine around people. I guess I was fine as long as I didn't have to talk to anyone. Once my parents heard about it, they were devastated. They didn't know what went wrong, so they talked to the school about it. The teachers watched me for a few months (undercover) and noticed that I was being made fun of JUST for being quiet and avoiding everyone._

_Kids would yell things at me like, "Just talk already! It isn't that hard! Say something at least like 'hi!'" and "She's too stupid to talk. Maybe her parents forgot to teach her!" I didn't really care about what those kids said, but I still remember the words._

_Then, one day, one of the meanest kids in school had me in a corner. Two of his 'allies' were behind him so I wouldn't escape. He was holding a bottle of hot sauce in his hand, since he thought it was threatening. Truth be told I freaking LOVED hot sauce. The guy was shouting a lot of mean things at me, ranging from name calling to threatening me. I had this neutral look on my face the entire time. I wasn't that scared, since I was used to being insulted._

_But suddenly, a voice yelled to him, "HEY!" and he turned around to see a (very cute by the way) boy standing there with an angry look on his face. The mean kids laughed at him, but he didn't let up._

_"Leave the pretty girl alone! So what if she doesn't talk? That's just her! You're making fun of someone for being themselves?!" he yelled. I blushed a little. Nobody ever called me pretty before._

_"Oh please, and what are you gonna do about it, pipsqueak?" one of the mean kids replied. The boy unzipped the black sweater he was wearing, and opened it to reveal hot steaming burritos latched to the inside of it! _How strange, _I thought. _Why would this kid have burritos?_ The bullies simply laughed again. But then, all of a sudden, the boy threw one of the burritos at the meanest kid! Beef, cheese, tomatoes, everything on the burrito splattered across him and he screamed in pain. _

_"THAT BURRITO IS HOT!" he whined. The boy smirked and pulled out another burrito. The two other kids ran away in fear. The mean kid that was left scurried away as well, tears streaming down his face as he was screaming for his mom. He dropped the (still closed) bottle of hot sauce. Once they were gone, the boy walked over to me._

_"Burrito?" he offered. I nodded slightly and took it from his hands It was warm. Just like hot sauce, I loved burritos._

_"Thank you," I stated. He smiled and gave me a thumb up. He was the same species as me, a mau5. He had long curly black hair, and thin black glasses. Even though all mi5e had the same eyes, his were GORGEOUS. And for some reason, the school uniform he had on made him look even more attractive. I never thought I'd say that a school uniform looked good._

_"What's your name?" he asked. _

_"Neff," I stated._

_"That's a pretty name," he said. I looked away and blushed. "I'm Sunny, with a u." Gosh, even his name was gorgeous. He lit up my day like the sun._

_He looked on the ground and saw the hot sauce bottle. He picked it up. "Hot sauce?" he offered. I nodded slowly, and he smiled. He popped open the cap and poured a little bit on my burrito._

_Ever since that day, he and I were the best of friends. And, well, he helped me get rid of my lack of speech. I was talking a lot more by the beginning of 8th grade, when I was 14. We'd go to each other's houses and play video games or draw pictures for each other. Occasionally we'd go to the amusement park together and ride all the scary roller coasters that went high up in the air._

_Then one day, my dad came in my room while I was drawing a picture for Sunny in honor of our 4 year anniversary of being best friends. I was also going to tell him how I was in love with him. I looked up at my dad, and he had a sad look on his face._

_"Neff," he started, "we're moving."_

_My heart nearly stopped then and there. Why on EARTH would we be moving?! There weren't any problems with school, or the town. There weren't any problems with the family either... were there?_

_"Why?" I asked. My dad sighed and sat next to me on my bed._

_"Your mom and I aren't getting along very well, and I think it's best if we split up."_

_I looked at him with wide eyes. I never saw them argue or anything, so how could they not get along? "But... I never see you guys argue!" I said._

_"It's always when you're with Sunny, that's why," he explained._

_I sighed. I still couldn't believe I was moving. "When are we moving, dad?"_

_"A few weeks from now. I already found a house, and I just need to file for a divorce and get our things together."_

_"Where is the house?" I asked._

_"It's in Elmore. It's a town not too far from here, about a few hundred miles down south," my dad explained._

_"What is it like there?"_

_"I don't know. I gotta go now, have to make a few calls," he said, before patting my back and leaving. He shut the door quietly behind him._

_I stayed quiet, and looked back down at the picture I was drawing. It was of two little chibi mi5e, one was me and the other was Sunny. They were holding hands and a heart was floating above them. There was a note on the top that I had written carefully. It said,_

'Sunny, it's been a really good 4 years. If you hadn't protected me from those mean kids, I probably still would've had social anxiety. You've been a great friend to me, and I thank you a lot for that. When I first saw you, well... I thought you were really attractive. Your hair was beautiful, and your eyes were stunning. And the school uniform even made it better. To be honest, I still have those feelings for you, and... Well, I'm in love with you Sunny. I never knew a person like you would exist.'

_I sighed and wrote some more down._

I'm sorry to say, I'm moving in a few weeks. I'm moving to a town called Elmore. It's down south a few hundred miles. My parents are getting a divorce, but I don't know why. I know you're probably devastated while reading this, but don't worry. I'll be fine. I'll make friends so you won't have to worry about me being lonely. Who knows, maybe I'll come back up here every once in a while, and we'll hang out just like old times.'

Happy 4 Year Anniversary!

_I sniffled and put the pencil down. Tears threatened to pour out of my eyes, but I wiped them away quickly. I had to stay strong. I had walked over to Sunny's house and left the drawing in his mailbox, since I didn't want to give it to him in person._

_The next morning, I was lying in my bed thinking about what life would be like in Elmore. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a knock on the door. I got up quickly and went downstairs to see who it was. I cracked open the door slightly and saw that it was Sunny._

_He had been crying._

_I opened the door all the way and he pulled me into a tight hug. He started sobbing into my shoulder. We ended up sitting on the ground hugging. I couldn't cry though. I didn't know why, so I just hugged back._

_"N-Neff," he said._

_"Yeah?" I replied, patting his back._

_"I... I read the part when you said you love me."_

_My heart skipped a beat, but I hugged him tighter. "What about it?"_

_"I'm in love with you too."_

_At that moment, my eyes filled with tears and I burst out crying._

_Fast forward to a few weeks later, when I was at the airport with my dad. Sunny had come with to say goodbye._

_"All passengers heading to Elmore must board at gate 3. Plane will leave in five minutes," the intercom said. My dad was getting coffee at a little stand. I was left standing with Sunny._

_"I guess this is it," he said sadly. I reached up and patted his head, since he was a lot taller than me._

_"I'll come back every now and then. I promise," I said, smiling. He smiled back and pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged him back tightly._

_"I'll miss you," Sunny said, before kissing the top of my head. I blushed madly but just leaned into his chest._

_"I'll miss you too."_

_"Neff! We gotta get goin'!" my dad called out. Sunny and I broke the hug immediately._

_"Have fun in Elmore, okay?" Sunny said. I nodded._

_"Definitely."_

_"Neff!"_

_"I'm coming!" I said, and started walking backwards towards my dad._

_"I'll call you when I land!" I said, before turning around and running towards my dad. I couldn't wait until I could see him again._

* * *

I had dozed off in class without realizing it. I could feel the pages of my textbook on the side of my face. When I opened my eyes, I saw the ape's eyes staring directly at me. I jumped in fear and fell out of my chair. I landed with a thud on the ground.

"Well, looks like someone's FINALLY awake. 1 hour of detention after school!" she said strictly, before walking back to the front of the room. "Now, as I was saying..."

I sighed and got up slowly, then sat back in my desk. I looked around and saw that everyone around me was turned to a different page.

"Hey," I whispered to Sussie, "what page are we on?" No matter how much I hated myself for it, the person next to me looked too scary to talk to, considering she was a t-rex.

"Page 134," she replied, taking out a small bag of hot Cheetos. Good lord, doesn't she ever stop EATING?!

"Talking now, new girl?" I heard a raspy voice say. It was Miss Simian's.

"I was asking what page we were on," I explained nervously.

"No excuses! 30 more minutes were added to your detention!"

I threw my head back and sighed in frustration. _You've got to be kidding me! First I get chased by her and now it's an hour and a half of detention from her?! Well this day is turning out just great!_

I put my head back up and turned to page 134. It was still the same equations, just different ways to solve them.

To my relief, the bell rang a few minutes later. I got up out of my seat and retrieved my stuff. Suddenly, I was yanked back and bumped into something warm. I looked up to see Sussie looking down at me with those googly eyes of hers.

"Uh... hi," I said nervously.

"Heeeyyyy."

"So... what did you want?"

"Do you have food?"

I gulped. "N-no..."

"Oh. Okay then," she said, letting the grip on my arm go. I dashed out of the room as fast as I could. That was too creepy.

I took out my schedule from my pocket and looked at it. "Gym it is," I said to myself. "Just... where's the gym?"

"Oh there you are Neff!" a familiar voice said. I looked to my left to see Gumball and Darwin walking towards me.

"Oh, hi. Didn't you guys say you had the first 3 classes with Simian?" I asked.

"Yeah. You did too right?" Gumball asked. I nodded. "Then just follow us, we'll lead you there."

"Alright," I said, before following them through the crowd. We went down some stairs and down a hall, and then we made it to the gym. Good god this place was huge!

"We don't have to get dressed for the rest of the year. Reason being because the locker rooms have no air conditioner and when it's hot here, it's HOT. Like 100 degrees every day hot," Gumball explained. I groaned. I wasn't a fan of extremely hot weather.

Gumball told me we put our notebooks and stuff in cubbies by the doors, so we all did that. After that, we sat on the bleachers and a bunch of other kids walked in. Some of them consisted of a potato, a piece of toast with cool shoes, a paper bear with a drawn on dress, and a peanut with antlers. I noticed the atmosphere changed around me, and looked at Gumball. He had heart-shaped eyes and his tongue was sticking out.

"Hey Gumball," the peanut with antlers said waving.

"H-hiii Penny," Gumball replied in a soft voice. It was obvious he had a huge crush on her.

"Aww you guys," I whispered to Gumball.

"W-what? There's... there's nothing-!"

"I saw those looks you gave her," I said, winking at him. He blushed madly.

"Yeah..."

I chuckled and looked back at the door where more people were coming through. Suddenly, I saw the familiar figures of Tobias and Banana Joe. I waved at them. They waved back and ran to me.

"You guys finally came out, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah, Simian should've calmed down by now," Joe said.

"Came out?" Darwin asked.

"We hid in a crate on Rocky's janitor cart until the ape calmed down," Tobias explained. Darwin nodded.

"Smart thinking. She'll give you 2 hours of detention AT LEAST now," he said.

As if on cue, the ape was standing right behind the banana and rainbow puffball. "So, you two FINALLY decided to show up?" she said deviously. Tobias and Joe turned around slowly and looked up at her. She was towering over all of us.

"Well," Joe started, "at least the paint is off, right?"

"2 HOURS OF DETENTION FOR BOTH OF YOU! AND A PHONE CALL HOME!" Miss Simian screeched, before walking off. Joe and Tobias high-fived.

"YES! Last time she gave us 4 hours! New record!" Tobias said cheerfully.

I raised a brow. "There was a 'last time'?"

"Oh yeah, a LOT of 'last times'," Tobias said.

Suddenly, we heard a whistle blow, and everyone directed their attention towards Miss Simian. She had a hat on that said "Elmore Mustangs" (also with a picture of a mustang) and a lanyard with a whistle attached to it.

"Alright listen up!" she announced. "Today we're going to play dodge ball. But this dodge ball is different! It's going to be played in the dark around the entire school!"

"But wait!" I asked, raising my hand. "Does that mean the entire school is involved?"

"Yes it does! I call it 'Ultimate Dark ball!'" Miss Simian said, cackling evilly afterwards. She got out a HUGE bag filled with dodge balls and set it on the floor. They all poured out. There were around 60 of them, no joke. I think they were around the size of an Earth globe, but just a little smaller. They weren't small.

"We'll be starting in 5 minutes! I want teams of five!"

I couldn't BELIEVE what was going on! First, I'm all gloomy since I got an hour and a half of detention, but now we're playing school wide dodge ball in the DARK! As much as I sucked at other sports, I had a PASSION for dodge ball. Back at my old school, Sunny and I would always be the last ones standing. One time when we were on opposing teams, it took the rest of the class period just for one of us to get out.

Moving on, Tobias, Banana Joe, Gumball, Darwin, and me had automatically formed a team. Now we just had to come up with a strategy. We huddled in a circle.

"Ok guys, we need a plan," Tobias said.

"I was thinking we could just hide around until mostly everyone's out," Gumball suggested.

I nodded. "Good, but what if someone gets us out?"

"It depends who they manage to get out. We would be carrying balls with us, so we could use some sort of defense. If they get me out, you guys just make a run for it. But if you're able to, get them all out."

"Agreed."

We came up with a bunch of other strategies as well. If we were cornered, kick them in the nuts (or boob) and make a run for it. If they were big, slide under them. Small, jump over them. Simple strategies. Little did I know that they would take us far in this game.

"Alright class, grab a ball and head out. You have a 1 minute safety period to hide or whatever. And stay inside the school! All the teachers will be watching on the cameras to see if you're out. If you get out, go to the cafeteria. That's the only place off limits. The winner gets a special prize at the end of the day." Miss Simian said.

I had never played dodge ball in the dark, so I was pretty nervous. _Just act like it's regular dodge ball. _I told myself.

"GO!"

Suddenly, the bells rang throughout the school, and all the lights shut off. Shades closed, doors shut, and it felt... eerie. I could see what was close to me, but not very far after that. Other teams were sneaking out of the gym. I looked over at Tobias, who had Joe on his shoulder.

"C'mon, we gotta move somewhere safe," he whispered, before grabbing my wrist. "Make a train with Gumball and Darwin, and let's go to the janitor's closet."

I nodded, and grabbed Gumball's wrist, putting the ball under my arm. "Hold onto Darwin, so we don't get lost. We're heading towards the janitor's closet by the office," I explained. He nodded and grabbed the fish's wrist. They both did the same thing with their balls. We started walking out of the gym, making a line.

"Up ahead, down the hall. We have 45 seconds to get through all these people without getting caught," Joe explained. He must be the eyes of this line.

We moved quickly, but quietly. Some of the people almost bumped into us. We made it to the closet and went in there quietly. Darwin shut the door behind him. We all sighed in relief. I checked to see if there was a lock on the door. To my dismay there wasn't.

"We better hide in here as well. Never know who's gonna come in here and use this as a hiding spot," I explained. Everyone nodded and quickly found a hiding spot. Darwin hid in a mop bucket with water. I guess it was okay since he was a fish. He hid his dodge ball right behind the bucket.

Gumball hid in a crate that had a top to it. He had his dodge ball with him, and slid the top closed. Tobias changed colors (woah) and blended in with the wall. He hid his ball on a shelf behind some cleaning supplies. Joe hid there as well, since he was so small. I looked around and saw a perfectly open space on a shelf. I was pretty small so I hid there easily. I put my ball next to me and moved a wet floor sign in front of me.

Now we wait.

Well while we're waiting, I might as well tell you a little bit about my mom. Her name was Kitty (kind of ironic since her last name is Mau5). She was really kind, always making sure that my dad and I were happy. She always wore the most beautiful sundresses and had long voluminous hair. It was a dark shade of brown, and I think my dad had a fetish for it. Whenever they cuddled on the couch he'd always play with it, and occasionally smell it which creeped me out a little.

Overall I loved her a lot. She was so understanding and caring. I still don't know why my dad divorced her though. Maybe it just wasn't working out for them.

For some odd reason, the thought of 8th period came to my mind. Psychology session? Really? Chances are it was just ways to help with stress and stuff like that. I decided to ask someone later about it.

My thoughts drifted over to the people on my team. I considered them friends. Gumball was really thoughtful, and his brother Darwin was kind. Tobias had a 'colorful' personality, and Joe was friendly.

Suddenly, the door handle started shaking, which snapped me out of my thoughts. We all readied our dodge balls.

"Huh. I'm surprised nobody took this spot yet," a feminine voice said.

"Keep your guard up Molly, there could be people in here," another one said. It sounded an awful lot like Penny. I peeked at them through the side of the wet floor sign. There were 5 girls there. Penny was definitely there, a big black thing that had a long neck. It looked somewhat like a dinosaur. Then there was the silhouette of a flower, and also a cactus. Finally, there was the shape of a bear. I recognized it as the paper bear I saw before.

"We'll hide in here until there aren't that many people left," Penny said. They all nodded.

Our group all nodded to each other. Tobias, still blending in with the wall, scooted over in front of the door and gripped it so the girls wouldn't run out. Then, we ambushed them.

I threw my ball at the black dinosaur thing, which screamed out in surprise. Gumball threw the top of the crate off and threw his ball straight at the paper bear, who let out a moan of pain. Darwin splashed out of the water and shot it at the cactus. Then, he threw his ball at her. Joe peeked out and launched his ball at the flower's pot he was sitting in.

"And that leaves Penny," Tobias said, changing back to his normal colors. He tossed the ball at her weakly, and it hit her in the arm.

"Molly, Teri, Carmen, Leslie, and Penny! You're all OUT!" the intercom yelled. The girls let out groans of disappointment and dropped their balls (haha). They walked back out the door.

"Alright guys," Tobias whispered, "we gotta find a new hiding spot since we've been given away. People will be coming any second now!"

We all nodded and grabbed two balls each, then headed out the door quietly. We looked around and saw the halls were empty.

"Keep your guard up," Joe reminded us. He was back on Tobias' shoulder, and on high alert. We all tip-toed quickly down the hall against the lockers.

Eventually we made it to a room with an open door. Tobias put a finger over his mouth as he looked at us. We nodded and headed inside the room. I instantly recognized it as an art room. There were tables with paint splatters on them, and then a huge sink with paint brushes in aluminum cans next to it. There was a lot more art stuff scattered around the room.

As we all made it in the room, Tobias walked back and shut the door.

"So we won't be heard very well," he explained. I knew exactly what he meant. We'd definitely get ambushed here.

Suddenly, someone let out a war cry. I looked over to see someone hurling a dodge ball straight at me from behind the huge sink. My group yelped, and I ducked just in time and it smacked the floor. I smirked and hurled one of my balls back at the person. Fortunately I hit him right in the face.

"Rob! You're out!" the intercom yelled. Said person groaned and sadly walked out, closing the door softly behind him.

"Attack!" a male voice called out. Suddenly, 4 figures rose from behind the sink and hurled more balls at us.

And they all missed.

"Wow you guys suck!" I commented, before all of us threw one of our balls at them. We managed two hit two of them. The other two ducked.

"Eggheads! You two are out!"

They let out frustrated sighs. "Your group is all a bunch of Neanderthals!" one of them said in an English accent. I rolled my eyes.

They left, and we all looked back to the sink, waiting for some action. Nothing happened, so we figured they didn't have any balls left.

"I'll go," Joe said. He hopped off Tobias' shoulder and peeked around the sink. He effortlessly threw the balls at the remaining two.

"Sussie! Alan! You're both out!" the intercom yelled. It was kind of like the hunger games. Each time someone got out, they'd announce it publicly.

"Alright guys, I got a plan," Tobias stated once Sussie and Alan the balloon left. We all sat in a circle around him and listened. "I'll find some clear string and tie it down so it acts as tripwire. We'll put down some tables and hide behind them. Once they trip, we'll come out and get them all out. Then I'll reset the tripwire. It's perfect!"

"True," Darwin started, "but what if they manage to see through the trap?"

"Then we use the old paint maneuver!"

"Paint maneuver?" Gumball asked.

"We splash paint on them, and while they're stunned, we get them out!"

"Good plan," I commented.

Pretty soon, Tobias found some string and set up the tripwire with duct tape holding up each end. We set some tables on their sides to act like shields. Then, we got a few paint cans and hid them behind the tables with us. Tobias made sure the door was open, as they'd fall into our trap easily. We were armed with 3 balls each now, so it was gonna be tough carrying them later on.

I guess this is a good time to tell you about how I felt when my dad and I first got here. The furniture had already been set up thanks to the moving guys. All we had to do was put clothes and stuff away and buy food. Our house is located in a cul de sac. I live in a neighborhood with a bunch of old people, but I don't mind. Our house is pretty modern, fortunately. It had two floors and a balcony in my room. The view was great. We lived out in the suburb part of Elmore, so there wasn't that much light pollution. I could see the night sky perfectly!

As for our stuff, we had the basic necessities plus a little extra. My dad had his music making room set up (I told you he was Deadmau5. He's only famous in Mau5ville though), and I had my new laptop I got from my grandpa as a 'housewarming gift'. I knew it was just so he could spoil me. I guess that's just what grandparents do.

For some reason when I first went on the internet here, there was this website called 'Elmore Stream It!'. It seemed like another version of YouTube. It was probably just local videos. I only managed to watch a video that had old people in it. I don't remember the rest.

Once again I was snapped out of my thoughts when the door opened. We readied our balls (pfft).

"I still can't believe I'm stuck on a team with you idiots," a girl whispered angrily. She seemed kind of... bitchy.

"Shut it, Masami! We need to keep quiet otherwise we'll be- OOF!"

That was our cue to start throwing. I looked up from behind the table and saw an 8-bit spider on the floor. I shrieked and threw it straight at him. It got him, but nearly killed him too. Tobias threw his ball at a wad of clay, but he dodged by shape shifting around it. Gumball threw his at a cloud girl who ducked effortlessly. Darwin managed to hit a potato who groaned in pain as a response. Joe managed to hit a robot who's eye was loading.

"Ocho! Idaho! Bobert! You're all... OUT!"

"You guys are useless!" the cloud girl known as Masami said to her group as she picked up a ball. They all 'tsk'ed' and walked out. The 8-bit spider was mumbling some swears to himself. Masami threw her ball at Darwin who barely dodged it.

"Says the girl who did nothing all this time except for now!" the wad of clay replied as he readied his ball, but it was too late. Gumball and Darwin squirted red paint at the both of them. The wad of clay dropped his ball and yelled in pain.

"MY EYES! IT BURNS!"

The cloud girl didn't take it too lightly either. As she realized what had happened to her, she let out an airy gasp.

"I just washed my hair this morning! And you RUINED IT!" she screamed, before picking up two balls. She let out a loud roll of thunder before throwing it at Gumball and Darwin like a speeding bullet. Gumball ducked, but it hit Darwin square in the face. I gasped. _No!_

"Darwin! You're OUT!"

"BUDDY!" Gumball cried, before getting angry and picking up two balls. Everything went in slow motion as he jumped over the table and threw both of them at each remaining opponent. They both successfully hit them.

Masami let out a lightning bolt as she 'stormed' (hahaha) out of the room. The wad of clay simply hopped out of the room.

"Darwin..." Gumball said sadly.

"Don't worry man, just do your best. I believe in you!" Darwin said, before walking our and closing the door behind him. We all sighed.

"Looks like we're gonna need new string. This one is too easy to spot out since it's striped with paint," Joe said, disconnecting the duct tape from the walls. Tobias nodded and got out new string. He cut it and handed it to Joe. Then, he cut some duct tape pieces and handed them to him as well.

Right before he was done, the door opened quickly but quietly. In walked the piece of toast like he was running the place. Right after him, the t-rex, the ghost girl with cool hair that helped me out with my textbook, and a girl that looked like a crossbreed between a bull and a cow. They were all holding one ball each. They looked really intimidating.

_This can't be good! Joe! Just get behind the table before they-_

Joe screamed as he was hit with a ball. _NO!_

"Banana Joe! Out!"

"Well that's one. Now where are the others?" the piece of toast asked.

"Probably behind those oddly placed tables you dumbass," the crossbreed said. She walked over to the table Tobias was hiding behind. He had a look of fear on his face. The girl peeked over the table and he looked up.

"Uh... hi?" he said nervously. The girl smirked and brought a dodge ball down on his face. Hard.

"Tobias! You're out!"

I had to act fast. I grabbed a ball and then snuck over to Gumball.

"We gotta move. Grab balls and paint and follow me!" I whispered as quietly as I could. He nodded, grabbed two balls and paint, and we snuck behind the sink. I grabbed another leftover ball that was from Sussie's group. Then, I looked around for some place to temporarily hide. I saw a back closet. I tapped Gumball and pointed over towards the closet. He nodded and we both crawled over there. Lucky for us the door was open enough for us to sneak in there. It was an art supply closet.

"Now where could the other little shits be?" I heard the girl say. I panicked and looked around. I saw a blank canvas, and a skinny closet light bulb that hung from a chain.

"Hand me the paint, I have a plan," I said to the cat. He handed me the paint and I squirted on the canvas, 'Look up'. I set it down on the floor.

"Alright. You hide somewhere and once they look up, throw the balls at them. I'll attack from that lightbulb hanging there," I explained.

"Got it. I hope at least one of us makes it out alive," he said chuckling. I smiled back, and then we both got to our spots. I managed to use the shelves to climb up to the bulb. I held a ball in each of my hands as I hung upside down from the bulb. Gumball was laying low on a shelf.

As planned, the group walked in here quietly. Their balls were ready (pfft) in their hands. The crossbreed girl noticed the canvas. "Look up?" she said to herself. On instinct, they all looked up. Gumball and I threw our balls at the exact same time. We didn't know who we hit, but we knew we got them all out.

"Tina! Jamie! Anton! Carrie! You're all OUT!"

The group groaned in frustration and anger as they dropped their balls and left. I smirked and got down from the bulb.

"They fell for the oldest trick in the book! Nice job back there though," I said, laughing.

"I didn't know that it was possible to get them out. They've won this game since they all first got here!" Gumball replied. So this was a yearly game...

"Good job you two!" the intercom said. "Now you must face a new challenge! Go to the gym at once!"

"Crap..." I muttered.

"What the heck's going on?!" Gumball demanded.

"I dunno. We better be prepared though."

I nodded and we both grabbed two balls each, and then made our way to the gym. Once we got there, we slowly opened the doors. The entire gym was filled with smoke!

"For your final challenge, you must beat the four best teachers at Ultimate Dark ball! IN SMOKE! Winning team gets a free pass to Joyful Burger for a whole year!" the intercom said. I could tell it was Miss Simian talking.

"WE HAVE TO BEAT THOSE TEACHERS!" Gumball whispered as loud as he could.

"The final challenge starts... NOW!"

Suddenly, a dodge ball came whizzing past my face. It hit the door behind me. _Alright that was too close! I gotta keep my guard up!_

Gumball was still next to me and we were back to back. These teachers sounded tough, and it would take a while just to probably get one down. We managed to get to the bleachers and we hid under them.

"We need to come up with a plan," I said.

"Well we can't see them at all in this smoke. What if... what if we use sound to distract them?" Gumball suggested.

"That's perfect!"

"Okay then, here's what we'll do..." Gumball began giving me a simple plan about how we'll make loud noises and lure them in. Then, we'll quickly move out of the way so we can get them by surprise.

"But first we have to find out where they are," I said.

Another dodge ball bounced off the bleachers right above us. We held our breaths. Suddenly, I spotted a silhouette that was shaped like a cupcake. _The secretary, _I thought. I readied a ball for when she'd come closer.

She was a few feet away when Gumball suddenly jumped out and attacked her with a ball!

"Miss Sprinkles! You're OUT!" the intercom said.

Gumball fist pumped as I came out from under the bleachers.

"Gumball," I started, "don't do that again. What if she was a fast thinker and got you out before you even threw the ball?"

"I yelled out pretty loud, so it would attract the teachers," he explained. I felt so stupid now. That was a genius plan.

"You must be really good at dodge ball huh?" I asked. He nodded with pride.

We didn't have time to think as a loud war cry emitted through the air. Gumball and I both looked over to see Principle Brown charging towards us. We both moved out of the way just in time for the ball to pass between us.

"Ha! Missed!" I yelled, and threw a ball at him. It hit him in the arm.

"Nigel! You're out!"

I chuckled to myself as Principle Brown let out a disappointed sigh and said, "Well, I guess it's back to sitting in the office bored out of my mind."

"Only two teachers left. But who are they?" Gumball said.

"I don't know," I said, walking over and picking two balls up. "Let's just make more noise so they know where we are."

"Then we'll hide under the bleachers and attack them from there?" Gumball asked, whispering this time. I nodded.

"WELL, LOOKS LIKE THE TEACHERS ARE GONNA LOSE!" I yelled. We both rushed over under the bleachers and waited for a shadow.

A few moments passed by, and we were suddenly startled when a bang came from the top of the bleachers. We both listened for anything. It strained my ears, but I heard the soft sounds of feet stepping on bleachers.

"They're coming down here, get ready," Gumball said, readying a ball. I nodded.

A pair of feet stepped right in front of the bleachers. They were sandals with cloud feet in them. _Mr. Small..._

"Now where are you two..." he mumbled to himself. He walked a few feet away with his back facing us. I took the opportunity to come out from the bleachers silently.

"Right here," I said, before throwing the ball at him. But to my surprise, he turned around quickly and jumped up, dodging the ball.

"You thought I was that stupid?" he said to me with an evil look on his face. He spun around really fast and hurled the ball right at me.

But suddenly, a figure jumped in front of me! I noticed it as Gumball. When he landed on his stomach, he rolled over and raised a ball.

"Mr. Small! You're OUT!"

"GOD DANG IT!" Mr. Small said as he threw the other ball he had on the floor and stormed out. I looked over at Gumball.

"Thanks for saving me," I said, offering him a hand. He took it gladly and I pulled him up.

"No problem. I'd do anything for a friend!" he said, smiling. I smiled back.

"Alright. Let's go get the last teacher out and WIN THOSE FREE FOOD PASSES!" I yelled out purposely. Gumball walked over and picked up the ball Mr. Small threw. We readied our dodge balls for any teacher ambush. Seconds turned into minutes, but nothing happened.

"Uh.. YOU OUT THERE?!" Gumball yelled, getting kind of irritated. I was getting irritated too. If they were planning to ambush us, now was the perfect opportunity. Unless they were waiting for us to go to them.

"Do you know who's even left?" I asked Gumball. He shook his head.

"When they say 'best teachers' they really mean any teacher who's willing to do it," he explained.

I sighed. "We should just go find them then."

He nodded. We started walking slowly around the gym The smoke had cleared up a little, so we could see better. For some reason I felt that we were getting close.

And I was right. I saw a figure sitting down on the floor cross-legged. They had their ball next to them and were rocking back and forth.

"Hurr durr."

As we got closer, we could see exactly who the figure was. He was a skinny stick figure with a rather large head. His mouth was half open with a little drool coming out. I made a creeped out face. _Who exactly was this guy?_

"Hurr durr." This time I knew he was the one who was talking.

"Uh... this is the last teacher?" I asked Gumball. He nodded.

"Yup. Mr. Derpson to be exact," he explained. Wait, didn't I have a few classes with him? I thought back to my schedule.

_6th Period - Social Studies - Derpson - 82_

_7th Period - Art - Derpson - 101_

Looks like I did. To be honest the guy looked... dumb. It even said in his last name. DERPson. What kind of last name is Derpson?

"Hurr durr," he said once more.

"Wanna just get him out and be over with it?" I asked Gumball. He nodded and raised a ball. He flung it at him quickly.

But Mr. Derpson acted quickly and rocked ALL the way back, dodging the ball.

"Hurr durr."

"Is he mocking us?" I asked.

"I dunno. He does that sometimes," Gumball explained.

_How did he manage to dodge that ball? _I wondered. This time I raised a ball and threw it at his legs. He somehow managed to jump up without raising a finger. He landed back on the floor in the same position and started rocking back and forth again.

Mr. Derpson slowly picked up his ball and put it in his lap. He started petting it slowly. _Okay, I think this guy has a mental issue or something. _I thought.

"Uh," I started, "are you okay?"

"Better than you'll be," he said in a deep voice. It sounded like he completely changed. I gulped and took a few steps back, along with Gumball.

Mr. Derpson suddenly sprung up. He was walking slowly towards us with the ball in his hands. Gumball and I stepped back more.

"What? You afraid?" Derpson asked us in an evil tone.

"Gumball," I whispered to him as quiet as I could, "let's split up for now. When I let out a loud cry, we both get him alright?"

He nodded and we both went different ways. Mr. Derpson stopped walking and looked around. I was back a few meters so I could only see his shadow in the smoke. I couldn't see Gumball anywhere.

_I hope this works, _I thought, before letting out a loud cry. I charged towards Mr. Derpson as fast as I could. As I got closer, I saw Gumball heading for him directly across from me. We made it to him and threw our balls directly at him.

Time was slow as Mr. Derpson jumped into the air. My eyes widened as I saw how high he jumped. _Is this guy a ninja or something?! _I thought. Then, I looked back in front of me. A ball came flying directly at me, but I didn't have time to dodge.

It hit me directly in the face.

I let out an "OOF!" as I hit the ground, my face stinging from the impact of the ball. I heard Gumball do the same. _Did we get each other out?!_

"Well well," I heard Mr. Derpson say, "looks like you got each other out."

"GUMBALL! NEFF! YOU'RE OUT! MR. DERPSON WINS THE GAME!" the intercom yelled. Suddenly, the smoke cleared up and the lights came back on.

I got up slowly and heard the gym doors open. A bunch of people came in and ran towards Mr. Derpson. They picked him up and started cheering for him, then left the gym with him shortly after.

Gumball walked towards me as he was holding his cheek. "Looks like we lost," he said sadly.

"Don't worry about it. At least we had fun right?" I said to him. He nodded.

"Yeah, but we didn't get those free food passes."

All of a sudden, the gym doors opened. Tobias, Joe, and Darwin came running towards us.

"You guys did awesome!" Darwin said once he stopped. I smiled at him.

"Yeah, but we didn't win those food passes!" Gumball complained once more.

"Food passes, huh?" a voice said. We all looked towards the doors and saw Mr. Derpson walking in. He was holding two rectangular pieces of paper in his hand. He walked over to Gumball and I and handed us each a pass.

"Wh-what?" I studdered.

"You guys used an excellent form of teamwork, and that's what this game was about!" he said cheerfully. Gumball and I smiled and took the passes.

"Thanks!" we both said in unison. Mr. Derpson smiled and walked back out.

"That was nice of him," Darwin commented.

"Aw man, you guys are so lucky!" Joe pouted.

"I would take you all there if I knew where Joyful Burger WAS!" I said.

"How about we all go there this Saturday?Today's Thursday, and tomorrow I'm going to the movies after school with Darwin and the rest of my family," Gumball said.

"Sure. There's a new video game coming out tomorrow that me and Joe wanna play," Tobias said.

"Alright, what time?" I asked.

"Around 2 or 3. You know where Elmore Park is right?" Tobias asked. I nodded. "Alright, we'll all meet there. Joyful Burger is about 2 blocks from there."

We all nodded, and the bell rang shortly after. It was now lunch time. We all got our stuff from the cubbies and headed out. After our goodbyes were said, we all headed to our lockers which were in different sections of the school.

I made it to mine and put in the combination quickly, then shoved my notebooks inside. _My locker really needs decorating, _I thought to myself. I took out my schedule to see what classes I had next.

_5th Period - Science - Small - 104_

_6th Period - Social Studies - Derpson - 82_

_7th Period - Art - Derpson - 101_

_8th Period - Psychology Session - Small - Counselor's Office_

I put the schedule back and got out 4 other notebooks, just in case I needed one for psychology. I also grabbed my lunch box. I was still curious about psychology. _My dad didn't sign me up for it did he? _I thought to myself. I shut my locker and headed towards the cafeteria. Come to think of it, I didn't even know where the place was!

Heading downstairs, I had decided to ask Principle Brown where the cafeteria was. I knocked on his door and waited. To my surprise, the door swung open slowly.

"Uh, excuse me?" I said as I walked in. And then... I saw the most disturbing thing so far in my life.

Miss Simian and Principle Brown... were making out on his desk.

I didn't know what to think about this. It was... the vision was horrifying. I felt my body lose feeling as I fell backwards and blacked out.

* * *

_Everything was a blur as a scene of Neff's parents were sitting in an office with a psychologist._

_"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Mau5. I called you here to talk about Neff's mental issue. We've gathered some information from her previous brain checkup. She has a well... special condition. One we've only had twice before. She has the power to see the bits and pieces of the past. Most of them that she wasn't there for."_

_"W-what do you mean?" Kitty asked, even more concerned._

_"For example, if she has a dream, she could see what you two would've been talking about if you were out on a date or something the night before. As she gets older, she'll be able to see more and more into the past, but only by a tiny bit. She's 13 right now, so by the age of 14 she'll be able to see a month into the past. The only thing is, she has them very rarely, and most likely won't remember them."_

_"So she's kind of like a reverse psychic?" Dead asked._

_"Not exactly, but close." The psychologist got up and took out a small head cap with wires around it and a screen on the front. "That's why I wanted to use this. This is what we call the 'Dream Machine'. It's able to go into people's heads and display what they're dreaming about," he explained, and tapped the screen, "on this screen. Now I was planning to put this thing on her to see exactly what parts of the past she-"_

_"You are NOT putting that thing on our daughter!" Dead yelled, getting up and slamming his hands on the psychologist's desk._

_"That's your choice sir. I just wanted to make sure."_

_Kitty sighed in disappointment._

_Everything was a blur as another scene popped up. This time it had both of her parents in their room._

_"Kitty, we are NOT letting that psychologist use the Dream Machine on her! And we are NOT going to tell her about her condition!"_

_"WHY Dead? WHY? We can't just expect everything to be okay! What if she starts having bad parts of the past pop in her head? And WHAT IF she finds out about her condition from someone else? She'll be mad at us! It's better we tell her ourselves!"_

_"Just leave it alone! She'll talk to us about it and THEN we'll explain it to her! If we tell her when she didn't ask about it, that's like other parents telling their kid that they're adopted during a conversation about why the sky is blue!"_

_"Dead, you don't understand! We need to explain it to her as soon as possible! We can't keep hiding these things from her!"_

_"Screw you, Kitty! She'll talk to us when she feels like it! She's probably too scared and needs some time!"_

_"Oh now you're saying 'screw me'? Well fuck you Dead! I won't be with a man who doesn't know what's best for our daughter! We've had this argument one too many times! I'm done!"_

_"Is that how you feel?" he asked angrily as she opened the bedroom door, "Is that how you feel? Fine then! I'm fucking taking her with me and we're moving out!"_

_There was silence, and then the sound of the door downstairs slamming. Then, a car turning on and it speeding off._

_Another scene popped up. It had Neff arriving home._

_"Mom! Dad! I'm home from Sunny's house," she said as she closed the door. There was no response. "Hello?" she called once more._

_When she walked upstairs into the hall, she saw her dad's door was open. _They must be in there, _she thought. She walked over to his room and peeked inside. She saw her dad sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands._

_"Dad? You okay?" Neff asked. Her dad looked up to her with a tired look on his face._

_"Huh? Yeah I'm fine," he lied._

_"Where's mom?"_

_There was silence, then her dad said, "She went by grandma and grandpa's house. She'll be back soon."_

_"Oh. Well, I'm gonna go in my room and watch YouTube videos."_

_"Okay."_

* * *

My eyes shot open as I sat up. I was panting heavily. _What the hell kind of dream did I just have?! _I thought to myself. My mind was racing with thoughts. _Was that dream even real? Is it true that I can see into the past?! Is that why my parents divorced?_

"Oh, you're finally awake," a voice said. I looked over and saw a band-aid nurse sitting on a swivel stool. She rolled over to me. "Are you okay? You look like you just had a nightmare," she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I did... but... what happened? Why am I here?"

"You don't remember? You fainted in Principle Brown's office," she explained. I nearly fainted again once I remembered.

"N-now I remember..." I said.

"Don't worry. I've done it tons of times. You get used to it after a while," she said, chuckling.

I chuckled back and noticed my things on the counter. "Am I free to go?" I asked.

"Only if you feel good enough," she said. I nodded and got off the mini bed I was laying on. I could walk just fine.

"Yeah, I feel fine," I said to her, "what period is it?"

"5th period. You just missed lunch. You can eat here if you like," she explained. I nodded again and got my lunchbox off the counter. I sat back on the mini bed and opened it up. I was greeted by a tuna sandwich, a small bag of the Tapatio Doritos, a bottle of Bug Juice (no it wasn't actual bug juice. Just a fun name for it), and some oreos in a bag. Made by yours truly.

I licked my lips and took out the footlong tuna sandwich and bit into it. A few bites later, I heard a stomach growl. I looked at the nurse to see she was holding her hand over her stomach.

"Uh... are you hungry?" I asked.

"No, I'm fine," she said, smiling at me. I squinted at her, then looked at my oreos. I tossed the bag on her desk.

"Here. If there's one thing I know, it's if a girl says she's fine and smiles, she's NOT fine," I said.

The nurse smiled and opened the bag. "Thanks a lot," she said before popping an oreo in her mouth.

"Don't you have lunch break or something?" I asked.

"I do, but I forgot to make my lunch this morning," she explained.

I let out an 'oh' and continued eating. After I was done with my food, the nurse told me where the science room was and gave me a pass to class. I said thanks and left.

A few minutes later I was in the science room. Still on the first floor, just a few hallways away from the nurse's office. I opened the door quietly and walked in. Mr. Small was talking about atoms in the body when he directed his attention to me.

"Glad you could make it, Neff," he said. I smiled softly and walked up to him, handing him the pass.

"The nurse's office huh? You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just blacked out for a bit."

"Oh. Well just tell me if you feel like that and I'll send you right back, alright?"

I nodded and he told me I could sit at a lab table in the back. I was kind of scared when I saw that crossbreed girl sitting there. Mr. Small continued talking about atoms as I made my way back to the table. The crossbreed girl was glaring at me as I sat down next to her. Everyone else was writing in their notebooks about what Mr. Small was saying, so I started doing the same.

"As you already know, there are millions upon millions of atoms in the body..."

I was writing down that piece of information when a folded up piece of paper landed on my notebook. I looked up to see who threw it, but nobody was looking at me.

Then I heard a whisper, "Read it. Don't look around."

I looked over to see the crossbreed glaring at me still. I slowly looked back at the note and picked it up. I unfolded it, and it read:

_You are so DEAD after school!_

Okay, that was kind of immature. I wrote back:

_And... why is that?_

I knew exactly why though. It was because I ruined their winning streak of dodgeball. I heard her 'tsk' when she read it. I smirked to myself. A few seconds later I got the note back.

_Because you and Gummypuss ruined our winning streak of dark ball!_

Pfft.. Gummypuss? I had to snicker at that. Such a cute name, but for someone as tough as her to call him that? I was guessing she was saying it just to tease him. I wrote back:

_Really? It's just a game._

When I handed it back to her, she growled and crumpled the note up. I got back to my notes.

"Atoms can only lose electrons, not protons or neutrons," Mr. Small went on. He was holding up a picture of an atom with the protons, neutrons, and electrons labeled. Also the nucleus.

Class went on for another 45 minutes, and then the bell rang. Everyone sighed in relief and got their things together. In a matter of seconds everyone was leaving out of the room quickly.

Mr. Small told me where the Social Studies room was after I asked him. That went by smoothly. I didn't have it with anyone I knew though. 7th period came around which was art. I just followed Mr. Derpson there.

To my surprise, it was the same art room that we went in during the dodge ball game. "I love what your team did with the floor by the way," Mr. Derpson said. I smiled. I guess he wasn't really that stupid. In Social Studies he was explaining everything in such detail without even looking at the book! I guess he just acted stupid as an advantage in situations, and his name helped with that.

Another surprise was that Tobias and Joe were in this class. When they saw me they waved and ran up to me.

"Hey," Tobias said.

"Sup?" I replied.

"Where were you at lunch?" Joe asked.

"I blacked out once I walked in on Principle Brown and Miss Simian making out on his desk..."

Tobias and Joe stuck out their tongues and made gagging sounds. "Gross..." Tobias said.

"Yeah."

Once our little conversation was over, the bell rang. I took a seat at Tobias and Joe's table since there was nowhere else to sit.

"Alright class, today we're going to be starting on making whatever you want out of clay as an end-of-the-year project," Mr. Derpson explained. I smiled widely. I imagined myself making a little pencil holder. I needed one badly. What could be better than something homemade? "First, write down a few ideas of what you want to make. Then grab a partner and help each other decide."

I got out my notebook and wrote down 'pencil holder'. I thought of a few other things too like 'little music note sculpture' or the most ridiculous one 'hot sauce bottle sculpture'. It reminded me of Sunny. I sighed. Sunny...

"Neff, why do you look lovesick?" Tobias asked, snapping me out of my little trance.

"Huh? Oh, nothing," I said nervously.

"...you sure about that? You were staring off into space and smiling like a lovesick puppy."

"Yes I'm sure! Now can you help me with my ideas?" I asked, sliding my notebook towards him. He looked at it and smirked.

"'Hot sauce bottle'? Really?"

"I like hot sauce..." I muttered, folding my arms and looking away.

"Well, I think you should go with the pencil holder. It seems useful," he suggested.

"That's what I wanted. Thanks," I said as I took the notebook back from him. After that, he asked Joe for help. They decided he was going to make a dumbbell weight sculpture. I already knew Tobias was athletic (even if he was a little bad) but I didn't know his world revolved around sports.

Tobias had helped Joe with his. He decided to make a... banana.

"So you're obsessed with athlete stuff?" I asked Tobias. He nodded.

"Heck yeah I am!" he said proudly.

"What about you Joe? What do you like?" I asked the banana.

"Well, I mostly like making people laugh with my jokes. That, and taking my peel off," he explained. I cringed. That sounded disturbing.

"Well alright then..." I trailed off.

"What about you, Neff?" Tobias asked. I thought for a minute. What DID I like to do? Well, I have taken an interest to watching videos for about a year. That, and skateboarding with Sunny. I sighed again. My thoughts always lead to him.

"Well," I started, "I've taken an interest to watching videos on YouTube. And I've seen an Elmore Stream It video. I forgot what it was about though... But I also like to skateboard."

Tobias had a confused look on his face. "What's YouTube?" he asked.

"It's like the Elmore Stream It of the rest of the world. You haven't heard of it?"

He shook his head. "There's only one internet provider in Elmore. It only allows us to go to local websites, sadly."

"Well that sucks. I don't have internet set up yet except on my phone. It gets YouTube on there though, since my old town's phone company still connects to it all the way down here. I'm surprised..."

"I don't really have a use for a phone, but I still have one. It has a huge freakin' screen," Tobias said.

"Really?" I asked. "What kind is it?"

"I dunno. Android I think."

"Me too. Mine's pretty big. I'd show it to you but I left it at home since it was dead."

Tobias nodded. Suddenly Mr. Derpson spoke up again.

"Alright class, get the color clay you want and start sculpting!" he said, setting down a bunch of colored clay blocks in packages. Everyone got up and grouped around to get the color they wanted.

We all got our colors. I got a dark shade of green, Tobias got black, and Joe got yellow. I took the clay out of the thin plastic package it was in, and started pulling it apart.

Almost an hour of sculpting later, I had managed to make it into the form of a pencil holder (it was kind of like a pot), but it still needed some work. Tobias' dumbbell was making some progress, but not as much as Joe's. His was almost finished.

"So, why the banana?" I asked him.

"Eh. Fits my personality. Everyone thinks bananas are the 'funny fruit'," he explained. I nodded. Mr. Derpson told us the bell would ring, so we put our projects on the counter. The bell rang moments later.

_Now just to go to the psychology session in the counselor's office. _I thought to myself. I knew exactly where the counselor's office was, so I was there shortly.

I noticed that nobody was in here. _I must be early. _I sat on one of the chairs in front of Mr. Small's desk and waited. _If this is just for me, what is it going to be about? I don't have major problems with myself, but a few family problems. Are they worth talking about? I mean, yeah I'm sad about the divorce but..._

My thoughts were interrupted by the bell. Almost immediately afterwards, Mr. Small swiftly moved inside and closed the door.

"Hello Neff," he said as he sat on his desk cross-legged. he put his elbows on his knees and looked at me. "Welcome to your psychology session."

"Uh..."

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything. Right after you tell me; what's wrong in your life?"

He was really going to ask that? I know it's his job as a counselor, but he asked it as if I was just going to GIVE him the answer.

"Nothing's that wrong in my life..." I said, looking away.

"THAT'S where you're wrong Neff," Mr. Small said, putting on a hat with bear ears. he slipped on some bear gloves as well. "The honesty bear does not take a LIE as an answer!"

I gulped. This guy seemed pretty creepy. "Uh... can you explain everything to me first, Mr. Small? I'd feel more comfortable if you did," I said.

"Mr. Small isn't here right now, only the Honesty Bear."

_You have GOT to be kidding me. Is this guy serious? I'm getting kinda irritated now. _"But... all you did was put on a bear hat and paws! And then-!"

"DO YOU WANT MR. SMALL TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING OR NOT?!" he yelled in s voice that sounded like a military officer. I winced at his voice as I sat as far back in my chair as I could. I hated being yelled at.

"W-well," I started, "my parents got a divorce."

"See? Now was it that hard to talk about your problems?" he said in a sweet tone. I anime sweat dropped. _This guy... does he even consider that I might not WANT to talk about stuff like this?_

"N-no..."

"Good," he said, taking off his 'Honesty Bear' costume. "Mr. Small is back now. The reason your dad signed you up for a psychology session was because he wanted to make sure everything was alright with your mental issu-" Mr. Small immediately clapped a hand over his mouth.

"My... my mental issue?" I asked, trying to think back. That nightmare I had...

_"She has the power to see the bits and pieces of the past. Most of them that she wasn't there for."_

My eyes widened. So it was true...

"I-I'm sorry, I wasn't supposed to mention that part. I was supposed to say that your dad wanted me to check up on you, which is true! He does! But he didn't want me to tell you about your condition..."

_"She'll talk to us about it and THEN we'll explain it to her! If we tell her when she didn't ask about it, that's like other parents telling their kid that they're adopted during a conversation about why the sky is blue!"_

_"She'll talk to us when she feels like it!"_

_So my dad wanted me to talk about it with him first, just to see if it was bothering me. But truth is, that's the only 'nightmare' I had in a while. I've only had two so far, but I don't remember the first one. This one I remember clearly. _I thought.

"Did my dad tell you about all of it?" I asked Mr. Small. He nodded slowly.

"Yes. How did you figure out about it?" he asked.

"I had one of those nightmares. It showed me what the psychologist had said about my condition," I explained.

"Anything else?" Mr. Small asked.

"About how my parents got divorced, and how my dad said everything was fine after my mom left, but he lied."

"You know he only lied to protect you, right?"

I sighed. "I hate being lied to, no matter what. The truth would've been better." _My dad... he never talks to me about anything deep or stressful. Only when I make the first move does he talk to me about it._

"I understand, Neff. Sometimes you have to lie to people just to keep them from being hurt," Mr. Small said.

"In my opinion, I think that you shouldn't lie at all unless your life depends on it. For example, if someone had a gun to your head yelling at you where your mom is, you'd say she wasn't there, and was in the hospital or something. Just to keep her safe until you found out a way to warn her," I explained.

"Then why did you lie to me about nothing being wrong?" he asked with a brow raised.

"Because I didn't want to talk about it. But apparently 'Mr. Small wasn't here' and you kind of forced me to do so."

"Because that's what your dad instructed me to do."

_"I don't know. I gotta go now, have to make a few calls."_

_That must've been when he told him. That's when I had left for Sunny's house too, to give him that picture._

"Listen Neff, I didn't feel good either forcing this out of you. Your dad is seriously concerned about you on all this," Mr. Small explained.

"I know but... are you going to tell him everything we just talked about?"

"Sadly, yes."

I growled. I didn't like talking about stuff like this, but apparently I was trapped now. _My dad still won't talk to me about it, even after Small tells him. _I guess that meant it would keep building inside of him until he finally gave in and talked to me about it all.

"Neff," Mr. Small started, "what are your feelings on all this?"

I stayed silent and crossed my arms, looking away. I didn't want to talk anymore. I didn't want my dad to talk to me about all this. I understood he was concerned but... I was mad at him from hiding all this from me. _My feelings? Anger and somewhat sadness._

"I understand you don't want to talk. We only have 15 minutes left anyways," Mr. Small said, looking at the clock. I was surprised. Did time fly by that quick? "Just to change the subject, how are you doing in school?"

"...I'm doing fine," I said quietly.

"I heard Mr. Derpson gave you and Gumball the free passes."

I nodded. I was actually looking forward to this weekend. My first weekend in Elmore; spent with friends and food. Nothing better than that.

"Made any new friends?"

Okay, now his questions were pissing me off. I knew he was making 'small' (pfft) talk, but now he sounded desperate. I decided not to answer.

Minutes passed by. To my dismay, the bell finally rang. I hopped out of my seat with my stuff in hand, and opened the door. I closed it behind me without another word. I instantly put on my normal face to avoid any questions.

Heading to my locker, I thought about how I'd face my dad when I got home. _When would Small tell him? Would I just walk in and act like nothing happened or risk an argument? I know how he gets when I DO ask questions like that. I guess I'll just act like nothing happened. If we got into an argument, he'd probably ground me and I wouldn't be able to see my friends this weekend._

I made it to my locker and shoved my things inside there. I didn't need anything except my lunchbox, so I put it in my messenger bag. I slung it over my shoulder and headed to go home. I was walking, since my house wasn't too far from here.

'_You are so DEAD after school!'_

I suddenly remembered the crossbreed girl's note. I tensed up a little, and hoped to god that she wouldn't harass me on my walk home. _Just ignore it. In most cases, bullies just say things to scare you. They don't actually mean it._

Right before I opened the doors to the entrance, a voice yelled, "Neff!"

I turned around to see Tobias running towards me. I smiled, happy to see someone I knew. Everyone else besides him, Gumball, Joe, and Darwin were just strangers.

"Hey," I said once he caught up.

"You walking home?" he asked. I nodded.

"Sweet, I have a walking buddy."

I giggled as we headed out of the school. The sun was shining bright on us. It felt so cool back in the school. Out here it was like 90 degrees! There were a bunch of people running around or talking with their friends. Some were getting on buses and others into cars. It was busy overall.

"What about Joe though?" I asked him as we went down the steps.

"He was at an after school audition for the talent show coming up," Tobias explained.

"Talent show?"

"Yeah. It's 2 weeks from tomorrow. I would sign up but they don't accept sports as a talent."

I giggled again. "I don't have any good talents really."

"Oh come on, there must be SOMETHING you're good at!" he said.

I thought for a minute. The only things I really took interest in were videos and skateboarding.

"Well," I started, "I'm good at skateboarding if that counts."

"See? There ya go."

"I'm not that good at it though," I explained, "still learning."

We found ourselves a block away from school now. Still no signs of the crossbreed girl. I smiled in relief.

"What are you smilin' about?" Tobias asked.

"Nothin'. Just relieved."

"About what? School being over?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It's been kind of stressfu- DUDE."

"What?"

"We forgot to serve our detentions."

Tobias stopped dead in his tracks with a look of fear on his face. "Should we go back?" he asked.

"Definitely. I don't wanna get grounded and not go anywhere all weekend. I'm looking forward to Saturday!"

He nodded and we both headed back to school. We ran most of the way and up to Miss Simian's room. We opened the door to see her and Principle Brown... making out on her desk. Tobias shielded my eyes so I wouldn't faint.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god!" I yelled.

"Don't look man!" Tobias said. "Shield your eyes!"

I put my hands over my eyes. "I'm shielding them I'm shielding them!"

"What are you two doing here? School's over; go home!" I heard Principle Brown say.

"We had detention with Simian!" I explained.

"Oh, that? Well, I forgot Nigel was coming here so just go," Miss Simian said.

"Really?" Tobias said.

"Yes, just get out of here! You've already walked in on us once today, Neff! We don't need you fainting again!" Principle Brown yelled. We both nodded and walked away. I unshielded my eyes.

"Thank god, I did NOT wanna deal with THAT for 2 hours," Tobias said, sighing in relief.

"Well that was a waste walking back here," I said.

"Eh. At least we're off the hook."

We made it back outside and saw that it was less crowded. We started walking again.

But then, I saw her. The crossbreed girl was waiting a block away. She had the t-rex with her, and the piece of toast. The ghost wasn't with her though.

And then she started walking towards me.

"Tobias, we gotta go. Now," I said, grabbing his wrist and dashing across the street with him.

"Why? What's going on?" he asked.

"That crossbreed girl and her gang are after me for ending their dodge ball winning streak," I explained. He quickly ran in front of me.

"Dude, we gotta haul ass NOW!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: More Problems Up Ahead! The 'Joyful' Weekend!**

* * *

Tobias and I started running away. I still didn't know why they were making such a big deal out of this. It was just a game of dodge ball!

"GET BACK HERE AND GIVE US THAT PASS!" I heard the t-rex yell. Tobias and I sped up our pace. _Is that what this was about?! The pass? Like hell I'll give it to them!_

"We can't keep running forever! We need a place to hide!" I said.

"I know, but we need to get into a more crowded area!" Tobias explained.

"Tobias, we're 4 blocks away from the nearest 'crowded area'! We need to find a place to hide!"

Then suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. I stopped too and looked back at him. _What are you doing?! We need to go now! _The last thing I wanted was to deal with these jerks.

"Tobias! What the hell are you doing?!" I demanded. "You were the one that said we had to 'haul ass'!"

"Yeah well," he started, "I changed my mind."

I sighed in frustration as they all caught up to us. They stopped right in front of Tobias. The t-rex looked like she was going to pounce any second now.

"Jamie, just leave her alone!" Tobias yelled at the crossbreed.

"Screw you Tobias! We want that pass and we're gonna get it from her!" the crossbreed known as Jamie yelled back.

"Why do you guys want it so badly?! Mr. Derpson gave it to Gumball and me! We didn't ask for them!" I explained. They still weren't budging.

"Look guys, just leave us the hell alone. It's her first day here and she's already had a rough time! You guys aren't making it any better!" Tobias yelled.

They all glared at him. _I have to admit, Tobias is a really nice guy. Was he like this in 6th grade? _I thought. Then finally, Jamie said, "Alright fine. But after this we won't let up. You have your warning, Mau5."

"Finally you've come to your senses," I said. They scoffed and all walked away, clearly pissed off.

"Man they're easy to convince sometimes," Tobias said, walking back to me.

"They're not usually like this?" I asked once we started walking normally. The temperature had gone down just a tiny bit, and a breeze flowed through the air. It felt nice.

"No, but I guess since it was your first day here that they went easy on you," he explained. I groaned.

"Yeah well," I started, "I have to sit next to Jamie in science. She kept glaring at me like she was gonna kill me."

"Well at least they're gone for now. If you don't get in their way you should be fine."

I nodded, mentally screaming at myself. _Are you kidding me?! I haven't had bullies like this since I first met Sunny! Come to think of it... Tobias is somewhat similar to Sunny... they both stood up for me and care about me._

"You remind me of someone," I said to him.

"Really? How? Usually I don't remind anyone of someone," Tobias asked.

"Well," I said, "you remind me of my best friend back in Mau5ville. He stood up for me the first time we met and we were best friends ever since."

"Wow." Tobias was at a loss for words, I could tell.

We walked a few more blocks in silence before we made it to downtown. It was bustling with people, traffic, and the occasional person in a suit jumping around outside a store. I laughed at some of the costumes.

"I've only been here once before," I explained, "when my dad and I were looking for a TV."

Tobias nodded and looked in a restaurant window. "Jesus, doesn't Larry ever get a break from working?"

"Huh?"

"Look," Tobias said, pointing at a small shop. I saw a guy working at the register. He looked like a humanoid rock of some sort. He also looked like he was about to pass out any minute. "That's Larry. He works EVERYWHERE."

"Why? Is he a workaholic or...?" I asked.

"Nah. Nobody really knows. His house is nice, has a car too."

"Oh."

We kept walking throughout downtown. A few blocks later, we made it to some neighborhoods again. "Is your house close to here?" I asked.

"Yeah. What about yours?" Tobias replied.

"In a cul de sac not too far from here. It's with a bunch of old people, but I don't mind," I said.

"Oh I feel so bad for you," Tobias said, trying to hold back a laugh. I looked at him with a half smile.

"Yeah yeah... where do you live?"

"A few blocks away from you. We could walk to the park on Saturday together if you want," he offered.

"Yeah that'd be fine," I said.

We eventually made it to my cul de sac. "Well I'll see you tomorrow then," Tobias said, before waving bye.

"See ya," I said. We both parted and I walked to my house. I started thinking about my dad. Did Mr. Small even tell him about our conversation yet?

I eventually made it to my house. My dad had unlocked the door since I didn't have a house key yet. When I walked in he was asleep on the couch, snoring loudly. I silently thanked him for sleeping. Awkwardness avoided. As I headed upstairs to my room, I thought about what would happen when he did wake up. Chances are he'd act like everything was normal, if Small even told him yet.

I made it to my room and shut the door. I set my messenger bag on the floor and flopped on my bed. _Such a stressful day, _I thought. _Who knew so much could happen?_

I thought of the friends I had made. Tobias so far was my favorite. I met him and Joe all because he pulled a prank on Miss Simian. Tobias had stood up for me when Jamie and her group were chasing me. It would always remind me of Sunny. He also helped us all out during the dodge ball game. He was a nice guy overall.

Gumball and Darwin were nice too. Gumball and I worked hard during the game and won ourselves a pair of Joyful Burger passes. Who knew you could get passes to a restaurant for a year? Mau5ville schools didn't do that... As for Darwin, he was considerate. I didn't know too much about him though. Joe was the comedian out of all my friends. I mentally prepared myself for any corny jokes he'd say out loud.

I took the food pass out of my pocket since I was curious as to what it said.

_One year of free food! Valid at any Joyful Burger restaurant! Pass worth $200!_

Since WHEN did a school have the money for something like this?! And all because of winning a dodge ball game? I think I was going to like it here. In fact, despite all the problems I had here (already), I liked the place. The neighborhoods were pretty nice, the school system gave out awesome prizes, and the people were kind. Well, most of them. It wasn't as good as it was in Mau5ville, but it was close. Mau5ville was FILLED with tall buildings, fancy sculptures, and expensive houses. With my dad being really famous there, his fans were PISSED to find out that he was moving. He would still make music and all, but this would mean he wouldn't see them as much anymore.

Come to think of it, the neighborhoods in Elmore were pretty quiet; something I didn't have too often back in my old town. It was always traffic or someone having a party down the street. Of course I never went to parties, since I had social anxiety.

I set the pass on my nightstand, and got out my phone. I opened up the web app, and was brought to the homepage. I didn't have time to really look at it last time, since I immediately wondered what Elmore Stream-It was. But now that I had the chance to look at it, there were a lot of websites that revolved around Elmore. Elmorebook, Elfotomore, Gway; the list went on and on. For a small town, this place had a big internet community.

For some reason I took interest in Elmorebook, so I clicked on it. It was one of those social websites.

_'Elmorebook helps you share your social interests with the rest of Elmore.'_

Hoping I could find my friends on here, I made one. After registering my email and all that junk, they asked for a profile picture. I smirked as my camera activated. I held the phone up and stuck my tongue out in a playful way, then snapped the photo. It uploaded successfully.

_Interests:_

Hmm...

_Skateboarding, watching videos._

That's really all I could put for now. After that, the website told me I was finished making my profile.

_Find friends, add education and work, follow pages, make a status update._

I tapped 'find friends' since that was really the only reason for making this.

_People in your area: Tobias Wilson, Banana Joe, Tina Rex, Penny Fitzgerald_

I tapped Tobias' profile. His profile picture was of him flexing his (very small...) muscles while wearing sunglasses. He seemed to be in his room, since I saw a motivational sports poster in the background. I looked at his status updates.

_Tobias Wilson posted: Saturdayyyyyyyyy!_

Saturday. I'd like to call it the 'joyful' weekend, since we were all going to Joyful Burger. I suddenly remembered that I forgot to ask my dad. I put my phone down and headed downstairs to ask him. I saw he wasn't asleep on the couch anymore, and then I heard the faint sounds of music. I headed towards his music room where he was working on a track that sounded REALLY good.

I banged on the door loudly since he wouldn't hear a little knock. I heard the music pause and then footsteps. The door opened.

"Yeah?" he asked.

I showed him the pass. "Okay, so I won this at school for a dodge ball game, right? And my friend won the other one, so I was wondering if a couple of friends and I could go to Joyful Burger this Saturday, since it gives us free food for a year and all..."

He looked at the pass for a moment, and then nodded. "Sure, I don't see why not. When are you going?"

"Saturday around 2 or 3," I explained, "we're all meeting at the park not too far from here. My friend Tobias is gonna walk me there."

"Oh, okay. Just be back by 7 alright?"

I nodded, but then I had a sudden urge to make conversation with him. "Hey, uh... what song were you working on?" I asked.

"Oh, that? It's called 'Suckfest9001'," my dad explained. I smirked at the name. He always had such unique names for his songs.

"Can I listen to it?" I asked. He nodded and moved out of the way for me to walk in the room. It was filled with speakers and a bunch of other machines I had no idea how to figure out. In the middle of it all he had a desk and chair with a computer that displayed the song he was making.

My dad sat down in the chair and pressed the play button. Instantly the sounds of the electronic song filled my ears. It felt like heaven to me, the way everything was set up. It had a nice beat to it. To my dismay, it stopped about 2 minutes later.

"I'm still working on it, but that's what I have so far. What do you think?" he asked, turning around in his chair.

"It sounds amazing. I always loved your music," I said proudly.

He smiled wide. "Thanks. I'll make dinner in a bit. Anything in particular you want?"

I thought for a minute. "Uh, do we still have that frozen pizza?"

"Yeah, I'll put it in the oven in a little bit."

"Alright. I'm gonna go back up to my room. Good luck with your music," I said, before shutting the door and heading back up to my room. It was confusing how he'd look as if nothing was wrong with him. _Did Small even tell him yet? _I wondered.

I made it to my room and immediately went back on my phone. I sent Tobias a friend request, hoping he'd accept. I sent Joe, Gumball, and Darwin one as well.

I suddenly got a notification.

_Tobias Wilson accepted your friend request!_

And then right after that, a message.

_Tobias Wilson: Finally found Elmorebook, huh? What's up?_

I replied back.

_Neff Mau5: Yeah. I'm just laying on my bed waiting for everyone else to accept my friend request._

A few moments later I got another message from Tobias.

_Tobias Wilson: Oh, that's cool. :D Are you excited for Saturday?!_

I smirked to myself as I typed the message.

_Neff Mau5: Yeah, my dad said it was ok. Is it ok if you meet me at my corner and then we walk there?_

_Tobias Wilson: Yeah. I'll tell the guys tomorrow._

I was debating on whether to ask Tobias how he was like in 6th grade. He couldn't have been this mature back then, right? _Meh, might as well go for it._

_Neff Mau5: Hey, Tobias? Have you been this mature back in 6th grade?_

A few moments later, then another message.

_Tobias Wilson: No. I was kind of a total dick to everyone except Joe. Gumball and Darwin weren't even my friends back then, but we made up back at the end of 7th grade after I apologized for trying to steal Gumball's crush from him. See, we both had a crush on her in 6th grade, but she liked him and not me, so I just gave up._

Well now... Tobias liked Penny, I'm guessing? That was interesting. But it wasn't surprising to know that Tobias wasn't this mature back in 6th grade. I replied back.

_Neff Mau5: I didn't know you had a thing for Penny... It was Penny right?_

_Tobias Wilson: Yeah.. :/ I gotta go though, dinner. See ya tomorrow!_

_Neff Mau5: Bye bye._

"Neff! Can you come down here for a moment? I wanna talk to you about something."

_Shit_.

"Uh, coming!"

I made my way downstairs and saw my dad sitting at the dining table. My heart was pounding. I didn't want to talk about this. _No! Not now! _But, I guess I didn't have an option. I sat down in the chair across from him slowly. He had his hands folded on the table and his head slightly down.

"Yeah?" I asked quietly.

"Your mom called a few minutes ago. She wants to see you for a while this summer."

_Thank fucking God._

"Oh... really?" I asked, relieved. My dad nodded.

"Yeah. She said towards the end of July, hopefully. A week or two is all she wants," he explained. I wondered what life was for my mom without dad. Was she still even living in the house? Or did she move in with grandma and grandpa? That's usually where she went when they got into huge fights.

"Uh, Neff?"

"Huh?"

"I asked if that was okay with you."

"Yeah, that'd be great!" I said, smiling. Deep down I felt like something was going to be wrong with her. Very very wrong... "Hey, uh... dad?"

"Yeah?"

"How... how do you think she's doing?" I asked, worried.

He paused for a minute, looking at his folded hands. Finally, he said, "I don't know."

Later that night, after we had pizza and I watched reruns of a few _Naruto: Shippuden _episodes, I finally made my way to bed (right after showering, of course). I was kind of tired from that dodge ball game we had, and running a lot from Jamie's group. I still didn't understand why they wanted to beat me up just for a free pass. It was their fault for not paying attention in the game anyways...

I found myself drifting off to sleep, grateful that either my dad didn't talk to me about my problem, or that Mr. Small didn't call him yet. I thought about that too much, huh?

* * *

It was a few hours earlier, around 4:45 or so. Kitty was paying a visit to the psychologist that she and Dead had talked to a few months back. She wanted help, and she wanted it as soon as possible. The psychologist, known as Dr. V3ll (Vell), was busy explaining other things about Neff's condition.

"...many things we believe to cause this condition to worsen are depression, stress, or emotional trauma."

"N-Neff isn't depressed! She's not traumatized or stressed either! At least, I don't think so..." Kitty trailed off.

"Kitty, are you sure about that?"

Kitty glared at Dr. V3ll. "What the hell kind of question is that?! She's never been like that in her life!"

"What about after Dead took her away from you? You just told me that they left a week ago," Vell said as he got up from his chair.

"Does... does it happen that quickly?"

V3ll smirked and nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid so. She's the only patient of this condition we've had in about ten years. The other two have passed for unknown reasons."

"Unknown reasons?"

"The police gave up trying months ago. Moving on, I've come to a conclusion to keep this condition under control," the psychologist said as he went into a closet and took out the 'Dream Machine'.

"That again? But how will it help?" Kitty asked.

"The scientists at the lab and I have added some upgrades to it," V3ll explained. "Once it's put on, it will go into the brain and start examining the cells that the condition has infected. It won't just examine it, but also inject chemicals to help keep the condition from worsening."

"T-this condition worsens?!"

_I've got her right where I want her_, the psychologist thought as he nodded. "We're going to have to take risks. Some possible outcomes during the process are severe depression, memory loss, and if the condition gets to its highest point, it'll send her into a coma and possibly kill her."

Kitty's eyes widened as she put a hand over her mouth. Tears started to form in her eyes. "I don't want that to happen to my baby..." she whispered. She started to weep silently.

"Then the question is: will you bring her here so we can start to keep her condition under control?"

Kitty nodded. "B-but I have a question first," she said as she breathed in and took her hand off her mouth, using it to wipe her eyes. "How long will it take until it's completely under control?"

V3ll thought for a minute. "Well, with today's technology, if she's under the machine's control for about twelve hours a day, it should be done within a week."

"T-twelve HOURS? Per DAY?!" Kitty said, freaking out a little.

"If you want your daughter to be rid of that condition then this is the only option!"

Kitty looked down at her hands resting in her lap. _Do I really want to put Neff through this? I mean, it's for the best, but... _She sighed. "I'll do it."

"Excellent. Now, the best time I have on my schedule is during the end of July. Is that good for you?" V3ll asked her. Kitty nodded.

"Yes. Will I be able to see her?"

"Agh... I'm afraid not..."

Kitty's eyes widened again. "W-why not?"

"Well," V3ll started, "the machine needs to work in an absolutely silent room. And the quietest room we have is at the lab where I work at."

Kitty sighed. "If it's best for Neff, then okay."

"Brilliant! How about... July 20th, you bring her down here?" V3ll asked, looking at a calendar at the wall. Kitty nodded once again.

"Good. Now, onto the financial issues..."

About half an hour later after draining the Mau5 of 10k for the treatment, she got in her car and unlocked her phone. _Dead most likely won't approve of this. I guess it'll just have to be a secret between Dr. V3ll, Neff, and I..._

She dialed in her ex-husband's number. He picked up after the third ring. "Hello?" he asked sternly.

"Dead, is it alright if Neff comes to visit for a week or two over the summer?" she asked, hoping he'd say yes.

There was a silence, then a, "When?"

"H-how about towards the end of July?"

Another pause. There was a sigh. "Alright. I'll talk to her about it later."

"Thank you," Kitty said. Her voice cracked at 'you' and they both hung up. She put her head on the steering wheel and started to cry a little. _My baby will be better soon... she'll be better..._

* * *

_Beep, beep, beep, beep..._

I pressed the off button (snooze would just replay the alarm) on my alarm and sat up slowly. A wave of relief washed over me when I realized it was Friday. I smiled to myself. _Tomorrow's gonna be amazing! _I thought to myself as I threw the covers off and got up.

Half an hour later I was ready to go. I had my lunch packed and in my messenger bag, plus my phone this time!

"Dad, I'm leaving now!" I called out as I opened the door.

"Okaaaaay..." he slurred, still half asleep. I smirked to myself. I always thought it was funny how people talked when they were half asleep.

I shut the door behind me and went on my way to school. I had memorized my schedule by now. English, Math, Gym, Lunch and Recess, Science, Social Studies, Art, and... Psychology. Ugh.

I made it to the entrance/exit (whichever it was) of the cul de sac and saw Tobias walking a few meters ahead of me. "Tobias!" I yelled. He turned around and waved at me.

"Sup?" he asked once I caught up to him.

"Nothing, just happy it's Friday."

"Hey, I've been wanting to ask you something," he said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well," he started, "since you're pretty much a friend of me and Joe now, I wanted to know if you'd come to our End of the School Year Party."

I thought for a minute. _This would be my first party if I went_. But then again, I knew a little bit about them. I'd watch all sorts of movies with my dad when I was little; some of them had parties and stuff in them. Usually at teen parties they'd have parents watch, so I guess it'd be okay.

"Yeah, I don't see why not," I said.

"Awesome!" Tobias cheered. I smiled.

"When is the party?" I asked.

"May 29th, which is the last day of school. It's exactly one month and fourteen days from now," he said happily. Jesus, this guy plans parties early. It must be a huge party then.

"I'm guessing that a lot of people are going to be there, right?"

He nodded. "Hell yeah! I'm inviting the entire 8th grade except for a few!"

"Jeez, and where is this all gonna be at?!"

"My house," Tobias stated as if it was nothing.

"Your house?" I asked, not believing him.

"Yeah. We moved to a bigger house than the one I had before. And when I say big, I mean it's _big_."

_That's what she said. _"Alright," I said as I chuckled to myself.

We walked the rest of the way talking about random things. It wasn't as hot as yesterday, but it was close. It was more humid, and I could tell it was going to rain later. I just hoped it wasn't going to extend into tomorrow. That would pretty much ruin the walk there.

Once we got to school, we saw a bunch of teenagers standing on the steps or in front of them, all talking and whatnot. Tobias and I saw Joe talking to Gumball and Darwin, plus a little pink rabbit. She looked to be around six or so. _Strange, this is middle school..._

"So then I told them, 'What, I don't look apPEALing?'"

Immediately, his little group started laughing. I chuckled too, even though I only heard that part of that story.

"Joe!" Tobias said once we reached the banana and his friends. The banana turned around and grinned once he saw us.

"Neff! Tobias! Sup?" he said right before he did a handshake with Tobias.

"Nothin', just got here. What time is it anyways?" Tobias asked him once they were done. I took out my phone and turned on the screen.

"Uh, 7:19," I said. Tobias nodded.

"Good. Joe, c'mon, we're gonna go play a quick prank on the nerds!"

Joe laughed and soon, both he and Tobias were off. I sweat dropped. _Those two... they're just asking for trouble aren't they?_

"Oh, Neff! You haven't met Anais yet have you?" I heard Gumball ask me. I turned towards him.

"Anais?" I asked.

"Yeah, our little sister," Gumball said before he gestured towards the little pink rabbit.

"Oh uh, hey Anais," I said, bending down to her level. I held my hand out and she shook it.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Neff," she said. My eyes widened at what she said. _She's what, four? How could she say something so smart and fluently? I was expecting a 'hewwo' or something like that._

"She's a child prodigy, that's why she's here," Darwin explained. I stood back up and looked at him oddly.

"There's a program for prodigies, or...?" I asked.

"Nah, she's just in different classes as us."

"Oh."

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, and all of us looked towards the noise. Tobias and Joe were running away from the nerds, who were covered head to toe in paint.

"Oh man that was classic! I knew buying those water balloons was worth it!" Tobias said, laughing.

I sighed once they made it back here. "Is paint your guys' specialty or something?" I asked them.

"Yeah, can't you tell? We put a chemical in it so it won't come off for weeks on those nerds!" Joe said.

_Those guys... _Suddenly the bell rang, signaling for everyone that school was starting.

Fast forward to first hour: Miss Simian was blabbering on about the basic rules of grammar, which I already knew. For some reason, I had a hard time concentrating in class. My thoughts were too busy focusing on this summer. _Was this entire visit planned on a whim?_

I didn't even get to say bye to her once we left Mau5ville. The last time I talked to her was the day my dad told me they were getting divorced. The conversation was short and completely irrelevant to the entire situation, but she looked... empty. Her eyes had a tint to them, which was odd. Not many mi5e had that tint to them. I couldn't tell what kind of mi5e had that, but it didn't hit me until now that I should find out later on. Something was telling me that it wasn't good.

"Spacing out _again, _are we?"

I looked up, somewhat startled, to see Miss Simian giving me an icy glare. Damn it, now I was probably going to get 3 hours of detention!

"What's going on in that head of yours? Is it something you'd like to share with the class?" she asked, crossing her arms. I shook my head, getting irritated. "Then if you don't want to share it with the class, go share it with Principle Brown!"

I mentally swore at myself for being stupid. Now Brown's gonna ask me what I was spacing out about. Getting out of my seat, I grabbed my things and trudged out of the room. I didn't need to ask where Brown's office was, since I've been there more than once.

"So, what is this I hear about spacing out in class?" Principle Brown asked once I sat down and got comfortable. He was leaning on his elbows with his hands folded in front of his mouth.

"I'm not really comfortable with telling you," I answered honestly. I knew lying would get me in a situation that'd be completely pointless.

Principle Brown squinted at me, as if trying to get the truth out of me. "And why is that?"

"Because it's personal..."

"Personal issues are to be discussed with Mr. Small. I could've sworn I saw a therapy class on your schedule before I gave it to you," the furry slug said, taking hold of his 'I Love Myself' coffee mug.

"You're correct," I said, looking the other way. _Please, just get me the hell out of here!_

"Then why don't you save your thoughts to discuss with him?"

"Because," I started, "I don't like talking about personal things with a stranger; even if my dad told him to do whatever possible to get it out of me." _I don't know why he wants another person try to talk about it. I'm his daughter; he should just talk about it with me._

"I understand that. Mr. Small probably isn't comfortable trying to get it out of you either. But we're not allowed to disobey parents' requests here at Elmore Jr. High," Principle Brown explained before taking a long sip of his coffee. I didn't know what else to say. Hell, there wasn't anything I _could _say.

After a few moments of silence, Principle Brown spoke again, "I'll let you off with a warning this time. But the next time this happens I'll send you to Mr. Small's office." He scribbled down a pass to class and handed it to me.

_I wish my dad could get it through his head that this is bullshit._

* * *

I sat down at lunch with Tobias and Joe. Gumball and Darwin were sitting by Penny and Tobias' sister Rachel. She's actually pretty nice, and she was in on the party too.

_Speaking of party... _"Hey Tobias?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he asked through a mouthful of food.

"Are your parents really gonna let you throw this huge party?"

He swallowed his food and said, "Pfft, they don't know about it!"

_Oh great, I bet they're gonna do illegal stuff. _"How do they not know about it?" I asked.

"They're going out of town for a business trip. They'll be back on Saturday, which gives us WAY more than enough time to clean everything up," he explained, before shoving more food in his mouth.

"What's gonna happen at the party?"

"Oh, the usual."

"Usual...?" I asked, raising a brow.

"You don't know the usual?"

I shook my head.

"Well," he started, swallowing his food again; "there are 2 kinds of 'usual'. The first kind is when your parents are there and it's basically a small party, like a birthday party or something. It's basically lame overall. The second kind of usual is the FUN kind of usual. There's loud music with the bass pounding through the speakers, people play extreme versions of games, and EVERYONE is having a good time. Plus, no adults there to fuck it up."

_Well, he hasn't matured THAT much. _"I see... how long is it gonna be?"

"Aaalll niiiight loooonnng~"

_Dear god that sounded sexual. _I sighed. "Alright, if my dad's okay with it."

"Good. It's gonna be epic, trust me."

* * *

After 7th hour, I headed towards the dreaded place that is Mr. Small's office. I cracked open the door slowly to see someone _else _sitting on his desk. The man was surprisingly a mau5! And... Was that Dr. V3ll?

"Hello, Neff."

...Fuck.

* * *

_"Principle Brown, I think it would be best if I could help Neff out with her little problem," V3ll said. He, Principle Brown, and Mr. Small were all in the principle's office. V3ll had walked in the school almost randomly. Neither of the teachers expected it._

_"And why is that, whoever you are? How did you even get in?!" Brown asked._

_"Never mind that! The reasons are because one, I was her psychologist back in Mau5ville, and two, I don't think Mr. Small is doing a very good job at that," V3ll explained._

_"Hey!" Mr. Small said angrily._

_"What proof of you being her psychologist will make sure you'll help- is that a pocket watch?" Principle Brown was cut off when V3ll started swinging the pocket watch side to side slowly. Principle Brown and Mr. Small instantly had swirl-like eyes and they continued staring at the watch._

_"Now," V3ll started, "when I snap my fingers, you will let me be Neff's new psychologist and not question anything about it."_

_"Yes, master..."_

_"Good!" V3ll said as he instantly shoved the pocket watch in his pocket (where it belonged). He then snapped his fingers, and Mr. Small and Principle Brown were "snapped" __out of their trance._

_"Oh, hello V3ll. I'll show you to my office then," Mr. Small explained, leading the psychologist out of the room._

* * *

Long story short, Dr. V3ll was a horrible psychologist. He gave bad advice, and was always obsessed with pocket watches. He's kind of creepy too. He once told me he stalked his ex girlfriend for 11 months after they broke up. Why? I don't know. And I don't even know why he'd have an ex girlfriend at THIS age. She must've been a one night stand or something.

"Sit down, Neff."

What the _fuck _was this old geezer doing here?! I sighed and sat down on the chair, placing my stuff under it. "What are you doing he-"

"STOP TAAALKKIIIIIING!" he yelled like Rigby from _Regular Show_. "I'LL BE ASKING THE QUESTIIOOOOOONS!" Now, he sounded like Lemongrab from _Adventure Time_. Jesus, this guy was a lunatic!

"Now then," he started, "I know you're probably wondering why I'm here." (Did I mention his regular voice sounded like Rolanda from _Hoiitsroi_?)

_NOOOOOO, really?! _"...Yeah," I simply stated, not wanting to get bitched at.

"I'm here because I think Mr. Small isn't doing that good of a job."

"How did you even-"

"STOP TAAALKIIIIIIIING!"

Something snapped inside me, and I shot up out of my seat and grabbed him by the collar of his dress shirt, pulling him down to my level. "Listen old man, I don't know how you got in here, and I don't want to believe that's a legit reason for you coming here. Tell me RIGHT NOW the REAL reason why you're here!" I growled.

"Hostile one, aren't we? Alright, I'll tell you. Grab some popcorn and get cozy, since this is gonna be a long one," V3ll said, getting up and locking the door. _That's... what she said. But wait, why was he locking the door?!_

The old man sat back on his desk and sat criss-cross. He got out yet another pocket watch for some reason. It was gold and had roman numerals on it. It looked somewhat old too.

"The real reason why I'm here is so I can..." he started swinging the pocket watch in my face."...get more information on your illness! The rest is classified! And I know you won't tell me since you 'don't wanna talk about it', so I'm hypnotizing you!"

_...WHAT?!_

* * *

_After V3ll had drained kitty of 10k because he was behind on his house payment (he completely lied about the expenses being for the treatment), he sat back down at his desk. He opened one of the drawers and got out a little notebook. Titled on it in kindergarten level handwriting was "Master Plan"._

_"Huehuehuehue," V3ll laughed to himself as he opened it up. On the first page it explained how he'd stalk Neff around using his mini robot on wheels. It had a check mark next to it. The next page explained how he'd go to Elmore and hypnotize Principle Brown and Mr. Small. That had yet to be completed. He turned the page, and it explained how he'd get chimichangas after he hypnotized Neff. Another page turn and it had a picture of him putting the dream machine on her head. On it said, 'Extract infected part of brain by sucking out chemicals and brain cells.'_

_And on the last page, it said, 'Implant condition into own brain.' The rest he had yet to finish._

* * *

I had to get out of here. NOW. I ran to the door and tried bashing it open, but to no avail. So much for that plan.

"Silly, silly girl!" he said. Oh god, why did his voice suddenly turn deep?! "That door is much too big and heavy for someone as small as you!"

He got off the desk and walked over to me. To my surprise, he yanked me by the hair and pulled me up to eye level with him. "AH!" I yelped.

"Now," he said, "I'm gonna hypnotize you, and there isn't _shit _you can do about it!" Suddenly, he brought the pocket watch out again. "I'm pretty sure you're gonna be seeing stars!"

My mind went blank.

* * *

I woke up in Mr. Small's office on the chair (for some reason) and saw him sitting on his desk. He was playing some sort of Japanese flute. The last thing I remembered was the end of 7th hour, but that wasn't worth remembering. I felt like something had happened, but I couldn't tell what.

"Uh, Mr. Small?" I asked.

"Yes, Neff?" he replied, putting the flute next to him.

"Why did I wake up in here?"

"Well," he started, "I gave you an herbal tea since you were going wild about everything, and it knocked you out. And when I mean wild, you were yelling all sorts of nonsense. Were you hallucinating?"

"I..." Hallucinating? What was going on? "I don't remember. The last thing I remember was the end of 7th hour."

"The tea does that to ya. You're fine now, right?" he said.

"Y-yeah..." Something didn't feel right, and I was going to find out what it was.

A few minutes later of awkward silence, the bell rang. I didn't hesitate to grab my stuff and run out the door. Thank the heavens it was finally the weekend!

Once I made it to my locker, I shoved my things inside and grabbed my messenger bag, putting my lunchbox in there. I slammed my locker and ran down the hall and down the stairs.

* * *

After Tobias and I parted ways, I made my way upstairs and flopped on my bed. I was trying to think of what had happened during 8th hour. For some reason I felt Mr. Small was lying. My memory felt completely wiped out, and that there was no trace of anything.

A notification from my phone went off, which snapped me out of my thoughts. It was a message from Tobias.

_Tobias Wilson: Sup?_

I smirked as my fingers tapped the small keys on the electronic keyboard.

_Neff Mau5: Nothin', just got home._

_Tobias Wilson: Sweet. About that party in May, I'm making a list of food to get. Anything in particular you like?_

I thought for a minute. What kinds of foods DID they serve at parties? I opened up the web and searched 'food at parties'. I loaded up a random webpage that read:

_Some common foods that are served at parties are chips, soda, candy, and even baked goods such as cookies or cakes. Cooked food is also acceptable, such as pizza or chicken wings. Other foods such as sandwiches or taco dip are good as well._

The first thing that popped into my head was nachos with extra cheese. Yeah, just like mice, mi5e like cheese too. Jesus, that term is confusing to people sometimes.

Almost instantly, I sent a message to Tobias.

_Neff Mau5: Nachos. With extra cheese..._

A few seconds later another message popped up.

_Tobias Wilson: Ha, alright. Y'know, you kind of look like a mouse... are you one, by any chance?_

_Neff Mau5: Yes, but a more advanced species of mice. You don't know what mi5e are, do you?_

_Tobias Wilson: ...mi5e?_

_Neff Mau5: Yeah. Like I said, a more advanced species. One of our abilities is that our tails can be used for plugging into headphone jacks to act like speakers. Cool, huh?_

_Tobias Wilson: Holy shit. Like, if you talk while your tail is plugged into something, it'll make your voice louder out of the speaker?_

_Neff Mau5: Exactly. That's not the only thing our tails can do, however. In the case that they get unplugged, our bodies sort of shut down until someone comes along and plugs them in again._

_Tobias Wilson: Wait I have a question! If the tail gets unplugged, do you guys still age?_

_Neff Mau5: No, but it shortens our life three times however long we're shut down. For example, if we're shut down for like a year, then our life span decreases by 3 years._

_Tobias Wilson: Jeez... well, anyways, I gotta go since my sister is yelling at me to get off the computer. See ya around!_

_Neff Mau5: Bye bye~_

I locked my phone and got up from my bed to go. My dad was probably in his nonstop-music-making mood today, so I chose not to bother him. I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Yet another rerun of a _Naruto: Shippuden _episode was on. _Aww shit yeah!_

I was currently watching the 6th episode in a row when suddenly; my dad came in the living room and shut the TV off.

"Hey! I was watching that! Deidara was about to take his shirt off and-"

"We're going to Dump's Cave for dinner tonight, hon. you can watch Daedra or whatever his name is strip later."

I blushed. "Alright... And his name isn't Daedra! And he also wasn't gonna strip entirely!"

"Yeah yeah."

I scoffed and got off the couch, following my dad out the house and into the car. My mom and he had separate cars, so he took his with him once we moved out.

A random question came into my head regarding transportation.

"Hey dad?" I asked, once we pulled out of the driveway.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"How exactly am I getting to Mau5ville this summer? Are you driving me, or...?"

"I dunno. I'll ask your mom once we get back, alright?"

"Mmkay."

We soon made it to Dump's Cave and were now sitting at a table. That Larry guy that Tobias was talking about was our waiter. He seemed kind of nervous around everyone, often stumbling with people's food and bumped into a table, nearly toppling someone's drink over. At least he was trying.

"Your meals will be ready in a few minutes, heh..." he said, walking off and smiling a nervous smile.

"At least he's trying," I said once he was gone. My dad smirked.

"So, how's school been so far?" he asked.

"Good, actually. I'm not getting picked on like I used to. Although it feels different not having Sunny around."

"That's good to know. Have you called him?"

"Oh sh-" I stopped myself from swearing out loud. "I mean, crap... no, I haven't. Ugh, he's probably so mad..."

"Ha. I doubt he'd get mad at you for not calling in what, two days?" my dad asked.

"No, you don't understand," I started, "he told me to call him when I wasn't busy, and I haven't been busy all day except for school."

"Well, call him when you get home. Anything interesting happen in school? Made any new friends?"

"Well, in English..." I spaced out, remembering what had happened. "...nothing interesting happened. Second and third hour were normal. Lunch, I actually ate with my friends..."

"What do you mean? Why didn't you eat with them yesterday?"

_Shit! Forgot about... ugh, well, now wouldn't be a good time then. _"I'll tell you once we get home."

My dad nodded, and I explained the rest of the day to him. He seemed sort of concerned with me spacing out entire 8th hour. For some reason he looked like he didn't believe it.

Our food got here the second I was done explaining everything. We both said thanks to (the still nervous) Larry and started eating. My mind was going crazy with ways of how to explain that I fainted. It was kind of embarrassing to explain as well. Who WOULDN'T be embarrassed to explain that you fainted from seeing two old teachers sucking face in a very sexual manner on a desk?!

"Oh, dad!" I said, suddenly remembering the party. He looked up from his plate of ribs.

"Mm?"

"One of my friends invited me to a huge house party at his place. Can I go? It's next month on the 29th."

My dad thought for a minute. "Whose party is it? What's it for?"

"My friend Tobias is throwing it as an end-of-the-school-year party."

"Where does he live?"

"Surprisingly a few blocks away," I explained.

"The time?"

"I don't know yet, I'll let you know all the info once I talk to him again."

My dad nodded and started eating again. Once we were both done, we got boxes for the leftovers and paid for our meals. The car ride was sort of awkward, since I knew that the embarrassing conversation would lead to me talking to him about what had happened. I knew the school had called him about it, even if the nice nurse hadn't told me. Chances are he told her not to for some reason. I didn't bother with trying to find it out, since it seemed pointless at the moment.

Once we got home, it was around 7:30, and the temperature had gotten higher; around 94 degrees. My dad and I opened all the windows since he was complaining about how much it cost to turn on the air. I sat on the couch and turned back on the TV, while he was playing with his phone. I changed the channel to the news, since I was curious as to what went on in this town.

"_In other news, the prices of rainbows have increased ten dollars over the last month..._" the news reporter said.

_Booooooooooooooooring... _I changed the channel to _Spongebob_. It was the one where Plankton was Mr. Krabs and he was running his restaurant.

"_SOILED IT! SOILED IT! SOILED IT! SOILED IT!_" Spongebob was yelling. I laughed out loud as the childhood memories flooded back to me. I watched a LOT of TV when I was little, since I had a lot of free time.

"Neff," my dad said out of nowhere. I looked over at him.

"Yeah?"

"What were you going to tell me? You said you were when we got home."

I gulped, and then sighed shortly after. Might as well get this over with, right? "Well, I fainted right before lunch since I saw two of my teachers on the desk... sucking face..."

There was an awkward silence, and then my dad burst out laughing. In fact, he was laughing so hard that he fell on the floor and was pounding his fist and crying. _Was it really that funny?!_

"Dad..." I trailed off, sweat dropping.

"OH HO HO, MAN THAT WAS FUCKING HILARIOUS! Y-YOU SERIOUSLY SAW THEM MAKING OUT AND THEN YOU FAINTED?!" he screamed. I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, they were sucking so much face that they could've eaten each other alive," I said. My dad laughed harder.

Sighing, I got up and went upstairs, leaving him laughing his ass off on the floor. I noticed how exhausted I felt the second I sat on my bed. Why was I so tired?! It was only 7:30! I would usually be tired around 11 or so.

The second my head hit the pillow, I fell into a deep sleep; but right before I did so, I remembered I forgot to call Sunny.

_Great._

* * *

Laying on his bed and looking up at the ceiling, Sunny was in deep thought. His mind was often wrapping around the thoughts of the girl he was in love with; Neff. He wondered why he hadn't called her yet.

He looked over at his clock. 7:42 PM. _Still kind of early. I could visit her mom, just to see how she's doing. _Agreeing with himself, he got up and slipped on his shoes.

"Mom, I'll be back in like an hour," he called, before closing the front door behind him. A few blocks of walking later, he had reached Kitty's house. He knocked on the door, and it opened a few seconds later. Kitty stood there with a light smile on her face. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, and her eyes had a tinted hue to them.

"Hello, Sunny. Nice to see you again," she said quietly. She stepped out of the way to let the taller boy in.

"You look like you haven't slept in days, Kitty..." Sunny pointed out.

"I feel fine, actually. Nothing to worry about," Kitty said happily.

Sunny stared at her for a few seconds, a look of concern on his face. "Alright then," he said.

They both sat down on the couch, and the sounds of quick, light footsteps were heard. In ran a smaller mau5 who wore an extremely oversized sweater, and had pigtails that went down to the floor.

"Hey Amaya. How have you been?" Sunny asked.

"Psh! Mad! Family got kicked off the ranch since pa nearly killed one of our neighbors! Ma sent me to live here for the next few months 'til they find a new house! Hopefully it ain't a ranch though, I don't like farm work. It ain't cut out for me. And on top of that, cousin Neff left! Now who am I gonna play kick-the-can with?!"

Sunny chuckled at her mini rant. She seemed mad too. Her arms were crossed, and she had a cute pout on her face. "Well, how's 4th grade so far? I haven't seen you in a year," the boy asked.

"Horrible! Everyone's stupid! They don't even know how to do simple calculus!"

"Oh, so you're going to public school now? What happened to home school?"

"I went to public once we got kicked out. Everyone thinks I'm a nerd freak, so I just strangle them with my hair. Problem is that's not allowed there..."

Sunny chuckled again. "Just don't go overboard with the whole hair thing. They're gonna tease you even more if they all know you can control your hair."

"Yeah, yeah... How are you doin'? You mad too that cousin Neff's gone?" Amaya asked.

Sunny blushed slightly, but smiled. "Not really. She said she'd come visit every now and then."

"Really? When?!" Amaya asked, running over to Sunny and jumping on him.

"I don't know. Kitty, do you know?" Sunny asked, unaffected by Amaya jumping on him.

"She's coming towards the end of July. She'll be gone most of the time though. She's participating in a group that requires immense training," she lied. Luckily for her, neither Sunny nor Amaya saw it.

_She'll get well soon_, she thought.

* * *

I woke up around 11 or so, which scared me a little. I haven't slept that long in well, forever! I wonder what caused me to sleep this long. I later realized today was the day, so I hopped in the shower as soon as possible.

About an hour and a half later, I was ready. Yeah I know, I take forever.

"Neff! You know what you forgot to do?" my dad called up to me.

"What?!" I called back.

"You forgot to call Sunny! You should call him now!"

I gasped and then smacked my forehead. "Ugh! Right, I'll call him..." I got out my phone and speed dialed him. I sat on my bed, expecting him to pick up soon.

On the third ring, he answered. "Hello?"

"Hi," I said simply, smiling like an idiot.

"Oh, hey! You haven't called me in a few days! I was starting to get worried..."

I blushed. "Yeah, I was kind of busy... how have you been?" I asked.

"Good, good. Been missing you, y'know?" he replied.

"I miss you too."

"I went by your mom's house yesterday. Apparently your cousin Amaya lives with your mom now until her parents find a new place to live," he said.

"Really? What happened?" I asked, surprised.

"Her dad nearly killed one of their neighbors and they got evicted. She was pretty pissed about it."

I smirked. "Well, it is like her dad to be like that around people. Do you know why he did it?"

"No idea. She didn't tell me."

I got comfy and was lying down on my back, having one arm behind my head. "Weird. How's my mom?" I asked.

"She says she's fine, but I can tell something's bothering her. She looks like she hasn't slept in days."

"That's what she looked like the last time I talked to her," I sighed.

"Yeah. She says you're coming here towards the end of July though," Sunny said. I smiled.

"I know, I can't wait. It feels like I haven't been there in forever..."

"Sweet. Made any new friends? How's school?" he asked.

"Pretty good. I made a few. Won a game of dodge ball with one of 'em technically. We got two free passes to this restaurant that we're going to in an hour or so. But I also made a few enemies. They were pissed at me for ruining their winning streak of dodge ball, so they thought it would be cool to chase my friend and me through several neighborhoods. We ended up talking them out of it, but they still hold a grudge against me," I explained.

"Wow. At least you're making friends though. I don't get why nobody here wanted to be your friend except me. Guess that makes me special, huh?"

I blushed. "Yes, yes it does."

There was a silence between both of us. It felt comforting to talk to Sunny after a while.

"I love you," he suddenly said.

My heart skipped a beat as I smiled to myself. "I love you too."

* * *

"You seriously did that back in 6th grade?" I asked.

Tobias nodded. "Yeah. Idaho was so pissed that he didn't help me out afterwards. He just ran off."

Currently, we were eating at Joyful Burger. Gumball and Darwin got double cheeseburgers and cheese fries. They must really like cheese. Tobias on the other hand, got a fish sandwich with onion rings. Everyone was surprised at what I got; two orders of five piece buffalo chicken strips with LARGE fries. We were all drinking cola. Joe couldn't make it since he HAD to practice for the talent show. We shrugged it off though, since we knew this was important to him,

What can I say? I'm a big eater.

"Jesus, Neff! How can you eat all that?!"

I held up a finger to Tobias so I could swallow. Once I did that, I said, "I love food."

Tobias chuckled. Gumball and Darwin were impressed. They said they were big eaters, but not as much as me. Some people gave me dirty looks for eating so much, but I just ignored them. Even the cashier (who was Larry, obviously) was surprised, but he just nervously smiled. I wondered why he was like that.

I had finished ALL of my food, and was satisfied completely. That should do me well enough until dinner time. We all threw our trash away and headed outside. We had agreed to do something else since our time together was too short.

"Ooh, you know what we should do?" Gumball asked all of us.

"Huh?"

"A scavenger hunt!"

"Scavenger hunt...?" I asked. I never really got the idea of those. We only had to do it once during the entire time I was at my old school, and it was between people. Back then I didn't really like the idea, but I had to if I didn't want to get scolded by the teacher.

"Yeah! Basically we split up in teams, and write down a list of stuff to find or things to do for the other team. It's really fun!"

"Oh, that kind of scavenger hunts!" Tobias said.

"Yeah. I brought a sheet of paper to write stuff down with if you guys wanted to play," Gumball said, taking out a sheet of paper. He tore it in half and got out two small pencils from his back pocket. "Alright, first we need to decide teams."

"I'll go with Neff then," Tobias volunteered, placing a hand on my shoulder. I grinned and nodded.

"Alright then. Buddy, you and I are a team. Now each team comes up with fun things to do or get. It could be like 'get a random guy to sign your forehead' or 'take a picture next to a weird looking statue.' This town is full of stuff. Make it at least 15 things alright? Team with the first points wins. We'll all meet back here in an hour and a half," Gumball explained. We all nodded and he handed Tobias and I a sheet of paper and pencil. Gumball also explained to us that we'll need picture or video proof or to bring an item with us. Each thing on the list that we did gave us 10 points. Extras were worth 5 points.

"Come on, let's give them insane stuff to do," Tobias said. I nodded and we sat down a few feet away against a tree. In a few minutes, we had come up with a list of funny and embarrassing things for Gumball and Darwin to do. Once we were done, we handed it to them. What we got back was extreme.

_1: Sit in a shopping cart. EXTRA PTS: If a stranger agrees to push you._

_2: A receipt for adult diapers and laxatives._

_3: Buy Joyful Burger for a random hobo._

_4: Do an epic rap verse in public. EXTRA PTS: If you get money for it._

_5: Buy a wig and wear it until the hunt is over._

_6: Yell "I'M INTO S&M! WHO WANTS TO JOIN ME?!" EXTRA PTS: If someone volunteers._

_7: Get a picture of a decently sized spider._

_8: Sit in a tree and pretend you're a monkey for 10 minutes. EXTRA PTS: If someone offers you a banana OR joins you._

_9: Have a stranger give you a piggyback ride._

_10: Run through the middle of a sports game and yell "THE ALIENS ARE COMING! EVERYBODY RUN!" EXTRA PTS: If someone actually believes you._

_11: Pole dance on a street sign. EXTRA PTS: If someone honks at you._

_12: Dress a fire hydrant in one of your clothing items._

_13: Put a sheet on and run through the streets pretending you're a ghost._

_14: Sing the pirate song from Lazy Town._

_15: Buy a snapback that says "OBEY" and wear it the rest of the hunt. EXTRA PTS: If someone calls you stupid._

"Oh my lord..." I said, handing the list to Tobias. He laughed out loud once he was done reading it and handed it back to me. Gumball and Darwin walked up to us with embarrassed looks on their faces.

"You're making us propose to each other in public?!" Darwin asked.

"Well, you don't have to do it..."

"Psh! We'll do it! We're gonna win," Gumball said, crossing his arms and looking proud of himself.

"We ready or no?"

"Yup! And the hunt begins... NOW!"

Tobias and I immediately dashed to the nearest store, which wasn't far from here. We made it to downtown Elmore and saw a grocery store.

"Alright, who's doing this one?" Tobias asked once we walked in. The cool air coming from the industrial air conditioner blasted on our faces, which felt nice after sprinting all the way here.

"I'm too short to fit in one of those. You do it, I guess," I said, pointing to a nearby shopping cart. Tobias nodded and hoisted himself in one. I got out my phone and snapped a picture.

"Extra points if we get someone to push you," I said. Tobias looked around for someone to push him. He pointed towards a ball of newspaper with glasses that was currently carrying a jar of white-out. He was walking a few feet away from the cart, looking kind of nervous.

"Hey! Hey you!" Tobias called to him. The man shrieked and hid the white-out behind his back, looking at Tobias nervously.

"W-what? What do you want, kid?!" he said.

"Care to push me? Please?" Tobias asked.

"Why would I?!"

"Because if you don't," Tobias started, leaning over the shopping cart and whispering in his ear, "I'll tell everyone that you're buying white-out to cover up the article about your family being rumored criminals."

The newspaper guy gasped in horror and quickly went around the cart to push Tobias. He held up a peace sign as I snapped a picture of him being pushed. He then hopped out of the cart after mentioning a thank you to the newspaper guy.

"Ha, okay so we have 15 points so far," I said, marking the first thing off the list. "The next one is to have a receipt for adult diapers and laxatives..." I face palmed, realizing I didn't have any money.

"Well, it didn't say we had to BUY them, just to get the receipt..." Tobias whispered.

"What do you mean?" I asked. Tobias whispered the directions in my ear, and I soon smirked.

* * *

After dressing up as an employee of the store and successfully getting the receipt, Tobias and I hauled ass out of the store. I took the vest off and put it in a nearby trash can, and pocketed the receipt.

"Alright, now we have 25 points," I said, crossing number 2 off the list. "The next thing is... buy Joyful Burger for a random hobo."

"I got this. Gimme your pass and we'll go back to Joyful Burger," Tobias said. I took the pass out of my pocket and handed it to him. Five minutes of sprinting later, we made it to Joyful Burger. Tobias ordered a regular burger and fries. Once we got the food to go, we went back outside.

"Now to find a hobo," I said, looking around.

"I know where one is, but it's back downtown," Tobias explained. I groaned, realizing we had to do more running.

Five MORE minutes of running later, we found a hobo sitting outside of a store called Laser Video. No doubt it was a video rental store. We both saw Larry through the window. Tobias was right about him working everywhere. It was a mystery how he managed to work in so many different places.

"Here, take this," Tobias said, handing the hobo the bag of food. He took it slowly and opened it up.

"Why thank you! Bless your kind hearts," he said, taking the burger out of the bag. Tobias grinned, knowing he had done a good deed. I secretly took a picture of the hobo with the food. Tobias handed the pass back to me, and we went onto the next thing on the list. We were up to 35 points now.

"Do a rap verse in public, huh?" I said out loud. I thought of some good rap songs, and one popped in my head. I saw a random crate in an alley and pulled it out.

"Take a video of me, alright?" I asked Tobias, handing him my phone. He nodded and started recording. Standing on the crate, I cleared my throat and started to rap the first verse of _Tendencies _by Hollywood Undead; loud. By the 4th line, I had a small group of people surrounding me. I finished up by crossing my arms, which earned applause. Some people threw a few bills at me. I fist pumped, knowing I got extra points.

"50 points, baby!" I said, hopping off the crate and picking up the bills.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Tobias complimented, handing my phone back to me. I grinned and stuffed the money in my pocket.

"Thanks. Next on the list is to buy a wig and wear it for the rest of the hunt," I said. Tobias groaned.

We both looked around for a store, and found a conveniently placed wig store a few feet away. One wig and three dollars later, Tobias was now wearing a neon green wig that went down a little past his shoulders. It had a red bow on it. They only sold girly wigs there, and the cashier was stifling a laugh as she gave us the receipt.

Tobias sighed. "Next?"

"Yell that I'm into S&M, and ask who wants to join me. Seems easy enough," I said, pocketing the list. I cleared my throat and handed Tobias my phone to record. He started immediately. "I'M INTO S&M, WHO WANTS TO JOIN ME?!" I yelled.

"I do~!" a random voice called. We both saw it was Sussie. My eyes widened as I screamed. Tobias did the same, and we started to run in the opposite direction.

* * *

We were now on the 14th dare. We weren't able to do the 9th dare, since nobody wanted to give Tobias a piggyback ride, and the 10th dare, because there were no sports games going on at this time. The 12th one we couldn't do either, since I refused to take off my shirt or shorts. Tobias didn't do it since he claimed his headband and wristbands were family tradition. We also couldn't figure out how a fire hydrant would wear shoes.

"Now I have to sing the pirate song, huh?" I said out loud. Tobias and I were conveniently next to the crate that I had rapped on from before. Giving Tobias my phone to record, I stood back on it and started singing it. I even did a few dance moves. Yet another crowd was around me, but I didn't get any bills this time. Most of them just gave me weird looks, but continued to watch.

Once I was done, I stepped off the crate and went to the last thing on the list. "Wear a snapback that says 'OBEY' for the rest of the hunt. Extra points if you're called stupid," I said out loud. Tobias face palmed.

"Great, now I have to wear a stupid hat ALONG with this wig?!" he complained. I chuckled.

"Don't worry about it. I'll do it. But how are we gonna get one? I don't think seven dollars will buy a-"

"HI!" a voice yelled, making Tobias and I shriek. We turned around to see Sussie's head, er, chin, popping out from a trash can. The top of it had a banana peel on it, and a rotten kebab was in her mouth. Gross.

"What are you doing here?!" I said, somewhat scared.

"I'll help you with your hat problem!" she said.

"Really? How?" I asked.

"Here," she said, handing me a snapback that read "OBEY." Also a pair of scissors (to cut holes in it for my ears). The hat wasn't as dirty as I thought. It was actually quite clean. I sighed.

"I'm washing my hair after this," I said, taking it from her. She slowly took the trash can lid and sunk back down, placing the lid over her head. I was extremely creeped out.

"Well, we have 15 minutes left. We should head back," Tobias suggested. I nodded and quickly cut holes in the hat, and put it on. I quietly placed the scissors on the trash can so Sussie wouldn't pop out again. Jesus, she gave me the creeps.

Tobias and I started walking back, since we were tired of running around. I took out my phone and looked at all the pictures and videos we took. All of them seemed good enough.

There were pictures of a spider, me sitting in a tree with a banana in my hand, Tobias leaning against a pole giving the camera a seductive look, me running down the street with a sheet over me, and me with the OBEY snapback (that I took just now).

There were videos of me rapping, me yelling and then us being chased for five minutes straight, Tobias reluctantly pole dancing on a street sign and then having someone honk at him, and me singing the pirate song. Tobias wanted me to delete the video right after Gumball and Darwin saw it. He must've trusted them enough to have them watch it. He trusted me too, it seemed.

"Hey Tobias?" I asked, pocketing my phone.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"When is the party? I mean, what time?"

"Around 8. Just be there at 8:30, since you want to be fashionably late."

I smirked at his humor. "Alright. But what do I say about your parents?"

"Like I told everyone; just tell your parents that my sister and her friends are hosting it, and they're in high school. If they ask about my parents, just say they're out of town and gave my sister permission," Tobias explained.

I felt kind of guilty lying to my dad, but it WAS my first party. If he says yes, he must be putting a lot of trust in me by letting me go. I made a mental note not to take the trust for granted. "I'll do it," I said.

We soon made it back outside of Joyful Burger, and saw Gumball and Darwin sitting there. "Hey, you're finally here!" Gumball said, getting off the cement car stop him and Darwin were sitting on.**  
**

"You got your pictures and stuff?" I asked. He nodded and pulled out a camera. We exchanged devices and went through each other's. There were pictures of Gumball and Darwin in waiter's uniforms, Gumball striking a sexy pose in front of a statue, Darwin hugging a stranger, Darwin in midair jumping off a swing, Gumball in the middle of jumping out of a bush and scaring someone, and a lot more embarrassing ones (including Gumball proposing to Darwin). There weren't any videos, just pictures.

"Alright, that brings your score to... 185 points," I said to them, handing Gumball his camera back.

"And that brings yours and Tobias' score to... 140." Gumball and Darwin cheered, knowing they had won. Tobias shrugged, but I smiled. "Hey, at least we had fun, right?" I said to him as I took my phone back.

"Yeah," he replied, still bummed. I didn't think too much of it though. I had fun overall, plus a few laughs. This weekend was definitely successful.

"Sorry to crash our little party here, but Darwin and I have to be home now. We'll see you guys on Monday though!" Gumball said. Tobias and I nodded, and waved bye to the brothers that started walking away.

"Well, my parents said I have to be home as well, so I guess we could walk together," Tobias said.

"Yeah, that'd be fine," I said, and we both started walking. On the way home, I started to think about how fun my first week had been. I'm glad I ran into Tobias and Joe that day. It was the best coincidence ever.


End file.
